*Content Warning - War* - Abandoned To Confusion

**Content Warning** - Deals with themes of violence, war, and death.

This is a poem that was written by myself for my Honors: Rhetoric and Discourse assignment at when we were examining the Vietnam War. The goal was to write a poem based off the image that we were assigned from a Time Magazine compilation. The associated image is below.

Abandoned to Confusion

By Kristen Gandy

The shuffle of feet as the sound of death rips through the morning air

Cold hands, moments before, shivering in the sinless dawn,

Now take grievous comfort in the warmth of flowing blood,

As hands compress the fallen.

There is no respite in scorched earth.

There are no truces in scorched minds.

Abandoned and lost like the hope of a new day,

The shell of a once protective element - body + helmet.

Are they both permanently emptied?

Frantic desperation divines their fate.

There cannot be space enough to hold this desolation.

Not in one moment. Not in one lifetime.

The eye of the nation tries to turn from the atrocity of war.

And yet - like a poisoned meal that makes one retch,

An insufferable sickness lingers in the mind, wails in the heart,

To imagine the treasured soul of kin - wearing a body that wears a helmet.

Lost to their beloved,

Abandoned to confusion.

You can see more photos from this set on the Time website below.

https://time.com/vietnam-photos/