After Homecoming

He's a lost soul walking these streets
And people almost treat him
As though hes got a disease
It's easy just call the police and leave him
Long as you don't gotta see him just lie to yourself
And take pride in how you provide incredible levels of help
But his tattered clothes are a story
That matter more when you gather the fact that he's been abandoned before
After the war when he
Battled back a lack of a coping strategy
Man, they might as well have dumped him in a cul-de-sac with a loaded magazine
Frantically pacing
His sanity fading
This man's a tragedy waiting
For politicians with fancy debating
This can't be the way that
We pass appreciation to vets that answered the call
Just use 'em up and treat them like they don't matter at all
And how sad is it how many battle a bottle habit
From alcohol to pill-poppin' addicts it's problematic
While penny-pinching politicians think they can solve it but dammit
It's difficult to fix an issue if you don't have it
Back to this man who sits now in a six by six cell
Every minute he spends thinking is 60 seconds in Hell
'cuz he can't help but remember the smell in the air
The dirt and the burnin' metal
The yelling, the shells everywhere
The blood in the sand
All that panic and having that gun in his hand
The damage that something that traumatic can have on a man
It's sad but it's true
He's mentally battered and bruised, black and blue
He's mad and I ain't even mad at him
Just think of how bad it had to have been
Imagine coming back to a folded flag instead of a friend
And everybody says they understand
But it's nothin' but lies
When your brother gets gunned in half right in front of your eyes
Then you can tell me how to recover in life
I don't need advice from self-righteous do-gooders
Too good to care for sacrifice
In their eyes I'm just another useless shooter
A student of war and you sure couldn't teach me
Everything I've seen couldn't beat or defeat me
Veni Vidi Vici
I'm nearly uncontested yet I sit drunk under this bridge
While everybody walks above me 'cuz this is how I've lived
After homecoming
After homecoming