LiveJournal Idol Season 9 Week 25: Overwatch

[eeyore_grrl]

                                                        Overwatch

                                                         bombs fall
                                                         bullets fly 
i watch from the sidelines
protect and serve
protect my friends
            my countrymen
            my brothers-in-arms
protect them with my eye on the enemy
                     with my sight surrounding them
                                           ready to respond

 

                                                                                       that’s what i do

i don’t claim the glory    
i don’t want to
       	i want to get out of this uniform
	i want to get out
			   of this war

and i have to admit that i’m using as this as metaphor
	i don’t know the first thing about war
		about snipers or planning
	i only know tv
	
	i only know that i care
		that i look out for others
			watching their backs as they walk into the world
				bumbling or standing tall
			i am there to as safety
					     as backup
				just a phone call away
			a voice of safety to strangers

	and i watch my son play in the sand
			run up stairs and fly down slides
		i watch
		i protect from the sidelines
			praying that i never have to intercede
			remembering the times i’ve failed
				holding back my helicopter tendencies
			the playground is not a war

This was written for LJ Idol Season 9, Week 25. Read other entries here: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/793590.html

See and hear me read it here:

Comments

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I just love the stopping point here where the poem clearly announces itself as metaphor.

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh good. I wasn't sure if that was going to work or just turn people off. Breaking the third wall is a dangerous concept...

[theun4givables.livejournal.com]

Letting them go and do their own thing without hovering can be so hard sometimes, can't it? :)

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh dear lord yeah. Once he started playing at playgrounds and the such, I got a whole new understanding for "helicopter parents." I still try not to be one, but I get the root now.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

the playground is not a war
And yet, it can be so hard to make yourself step back and let your children learn rather than "be taught" by your words and cautions.

It's like a mantra you have to repeat to yourself: "Consequences are learning opportunities, consequences are learning opportunities..."

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Haha. I do not have kids, but even as an aunt I have to stomp down on the helicopter tendencies :)

[hosticle-fifer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's tough, isn't it? My kids are only in kindergarten, and already my wife and I are giving each other "the look". One of our kids says someone is being mean to them, telling them scary things or pushing them over, and you really won't help them by doing anything direct. But it's hard.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Such an interesting shift from metaphor to self-commentary!