Below this introduction, you will find the opening poem within my book. I will try to post one every week.
These poems were not written to an accompanying image.
Some of these poems are from my early years. I quit school and joined the Army, the Artillery, at 17. I needed my Mother's signature, because I was not 18 years old. I celebrated my 19th birthday on a United Nations observation post in Cyprus, 1982. I was lucky that the Artillery, and Air Defence Artillery, was expanding. I was fortunate to have benefitted from a rapid need for personnel in supervisor level positions. I rose quickly in rank and completed my first overseas deployment in
1982.
Young and foolish, I had released from the Army, after 4 1/2 years. I was still looking for who I really was and what I really wanted. Turning down an Acting - lacking qualifications promotion to Sergeant (Sgt); that is where you wear the rank of Sgt and are sent on the qualification course. If you pass the course, you keep the rank. At 21yrs old, getting out of the Army for a young woman was not what I truly wanted. Being a soldier was what I really wanted, ever since I can remember.
After 1 1/2 years of being out of the Army, rejoined in 1987. I remained in the Military until I was medically released in 2015.
As you follow my poems, not only will you have a brief glimpse into my early life, you will also see my descent into my dark well of depression. Keep in mind that the poems in my book were not edited professionally. They were edited by Microsoft Word, and me. Me being in a highly intoxicated state of mind. They were left raw, on purpose.
Window of Life
The window of life is seldom open
Quite often dirty, or frosted
To gaze thru the window
Is to behold the future
Not wanting to see out
For fear of not liking
Yet eager to peer thru
For fear of not knowing
To have a clear view
Is to have a chance to change your destiny
Would we really want too
Would we be satisfied.
I did not add a signature and date to the poems back then. However, they are all copyrighted within my book.
E.J.R. Hardy
