- "Do I have flashbacks? No, not I,"
- When asked, is how I would reply.
- As the condition as it's shown
- On TV, doesn't match my own.
- I see no visions, hear no sound
- But find it hard to stay around
- The people whom I hold so dear
- Because I'm overwhelmed with fear.
- A sound, a smell, a hostile face,
- Loud music in communal space,
- A barking dog, a shouting mum,
- A beckoned child who will not come.
- All these things can trigger me
- To freeze, to fawn, to fight or flee.
- My inner child comes to the fore
- Who views things as they were before,
- Who fails to see things as they are:
- A grown man, a house, a car,
- A loving fam'ly, growing fast.
- The threat is gone, it's in the past.
- I'm not a hero — don't deserve
- The same regard as those who serve
- Their nation decked in battle dress
- Or helping people in distress.
- See I am just a normal man.
- I've tried to be the best I can,
- But suffered trauma on the way,
- That echoes in my head today.____
by Albert Semple
28 lines over 7 stanzas.