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This is a topic that is difficult for me. I wrote this when I was 16, learning about the Vietnam War, and realizing how it had affected my dad and therefore me. It grieves me that there is not much published research about Agent Orange and other chemicals used during that war and their effects. The possibility that I or someday, when I have them, my children could be affected is something I live with and must deal with every day.

CHILD OF A VIETNAM VET
2/9/92

Dedicated to my father

Looking back on my childhood
It seems very different from others
I am the child of a Vietnam Vet
Before I was born
My father was scarred for life
He has seen the horrors of war

Some say it makes no difference
Their fathers have seen war, too
But their fathers weren't in Vietnam
That was a war unlike others

My father was changed in that war
His new views have become part of me
Vietnam didn't change just its vets
But also their spouses and children
It created within all it affected
A bomb waiting to explode

© Dystini, 1998

Email meemail:dystini@hotmail.com
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