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In The Shade Of Orange
In the Sixties,our troops
were sent to a foreign land.
My brothers and I went off with
a wave of our hand.
We were
all vowing to be the defending band,
the protectors making a great freedom stand.
It
became a long ,drawn hideous war game,
the
one needing defending having my name.
Thinking the cards had been stacked,
for vigilence, not one of us lacked.
What we were fighting for, you must see,
were the very lives of my brothers and me.
Yes,we went to Nam, and took a mighty stand,
poured
our brothers blood into a foreign land.
Searching through leafless jungles,
hearing in the distance the rumbles
Of those unseen overhead planes
that sprayed the chemical rains.
Through the hills and rice paddies
and
the blazing napalmed trees
ah,interesting what hindsight sees,
and
it sure does not please me!
Home ,decades later, that`s where we be,
still watching out for my brothers ,plus me,
just fighting to survive in this land of the free.
gonna
live forever... if Agent Orange lets me.
©Faye Sizemore 2/19/03
That Other Place
Down through all the mourning years
Fortunately, I have come to find,
Untouched
by echoes of recurring fears
This special corner in my mind
Where demons do not come to play
And plague my nights or fret my days
With
memories of that bygone fray.
One day, I heard a quiet voice say:
In this place gloom may not exist;
This is for those who did not die.
Theres
no need to sit and list
Comrades for whom we have to cry.
Savor the guitar lightly strummed,
Join in the games of pickup ball,
Or
snatches of song softly hummed
While we laze on a sandbagged wall.
Glittering stars in a black velvet sky,
Blaze like gems in the tranquil
night,
And breezes soft as a babys sigh
Bring no danger with the fading light.
Brief those moments may have been
But they did indeed exist.
There
was time to spend with friends,
Untouched by wars inhuman fist.
So, take the time to search them out
From where you have them hidden
away;
Theyre still there, without a doubt
Ready to bring some joy to your day.
Look deep within, Im sure youll find,
Green and bright and dappled with
sun,
That peaceful corner in your mind
I know that God made more than one.
© 2/23/2002 Thurman P. Woodfork
Military Travels
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Responsibility!
He wallows, as a wild beast, in the living room
of civilization!
And with rhetoric worthy of Hitler and Stalin,
calls
out and faces down the world - they who refuse to understand.
A glint of evil in the eye of the demigod who holds
the rifle;
A rifle with a muzzle that, at the same time, he
aims at the naïve world,
and at the people imprisoned in his personal dominion.
Which nations are fearful of him? All are!
But sighted nations see that he demands a ransom
be paid in moral blindness.
Blackness oozes from his heart and from the lands
of these ancient people
whom he holds hostage against the golden contracts of the morally bankrupt.
An Eagle and a Lion shall direct sanity in this
insane world.
Peace and Freedom will reign again in this ancient
land,
And Babylon shall once more arise in this cradle
of civilization.
But those not willing to pay the cost for freedom
and righteousness,
shall accrue the cost of destruction
and that destruction shall be theirs and their
childrens.
©Anthony W. Pahl
01 March, 2003
The Revetment
THE
SPIRIT SENTINEL
I slept with those at Shiloh
I listened to them pray
I walked on both sides of the line
Dividing blue and gray
I touched them in the trenches
Amidst the cannon roars
Would that it just could have been
The war to end all wars
I was
there at Normandy
At every row
of hedge
I had my arms around them there
At the oceans edge
On the
reservoir of Chosin
I sought to soothe their souls
I wept for them as they withdrew
Their bodies claimed by cold
I gave comfort there at Khe Sanh
And at Hamburger Hill
And I freely give it yet today
To those who need it still
In the darkness of the desert
When
they were put to test
If someone only called to me
I held them to my breast
Then or now
war or peace
He sent me to this
task
Out of sight but easy reach
To any who would ask
Just know that I am always there
Beyond the ring of light
A never-sleeping, silent sentry
To
still the raging night
©Randy E. Richmond
June 4, 2001
Randys Rhymes and Ramblings
The Sound of Silence
by Gary Jacobson
In
the silence of innocent lambs
Warriors slip in and out of combat jams
Comes a hush after battle's raucous
crush
Run its fiery course adrenaline's rush
Deadening noise where silence reigns
Caught in stifled
sleep the living feigns
Boys listening in dark and dusky night
Throat strangled tight
Painfully pay
heed to creeping shadows
Men go deathly silent in agonizing throes...
Fill my silence with dry tears
In the night of a thousand fears
Giving ear to men coming to kill
Shedding blood their greatest thrill
Spurring on the wild beast of war
Riding to destroy all that comes before
Hot hatreds voices fill
Over forested rock and rill
Filling combatants silent void
Trying thoughts of death somehow to avoid...
Silence on the lonesome night hangs
Thoughts of home but empty pangs
Displayed in light of
a killing moon
Beating on weary heartstrings a throbbing tune
Rubbing hot spurs up and down trembling spines
Shards cold as death confines
Shooting shadows of silence defining
Bullets cutting through forests
adventuring
Proudly by patriotic duty sought
Determined to find a souls destined spot...
Quietly
in the dust I die
Daring not in the midst of enemies to cry
Bearing a thousand deaths in silence
Paying
at long last the Devil's penance
Laid down a body red by bloody fever flushed
Neath solemnly sacred ground
so still, so hushed
Grisly maw agape in death's primal scream
Gone on to fight with heaven's first team...
Offended eyes open wide, searching forever
Pleading still in silence, forget me never...
©3/7/03
Gary Jacobson
More poems by Gary Jacobson
Blue Star Mothers
Mothers... do weep...
but
your faithfulness keep
You raised your sweet children...
You raised them to reconize a wrong
to always defend
and protect those not strong
to seek the truth in this cruel world
Now about them the battles may swirl
They have
their promises to keep
Mothers ....with you we weep.......
When war does rage
recorded again on historys`
page
and Death counts its` toll
pray your children are not on its role
This matters above everything
for when
it is done and freedom does ring
Mothers, your praises they will sing
But for now its` price is so steep
Mothers....for
you we weep......
©Faye Sizemore 3/15/03
F L A G
For
unto the beaches, there came a sound, of men marching.
Lines of men, marching to the sound
of a single drum.
Against all odds, they beat the odds, their task is complete.
Greeted by a banner that waves, to welcome them home.
©2003 Elizabeth Colbert
Iraq Revisited
Saddam,I remember you .....and
the death bell
.......... your hand did toll from the steeple...
...................I heard it sound for the Iraqi
people...
........who died in your manufactured Hell.............
Phases run through my mind..........
Pieces
of old memories.............now frozen in time
Peace keepers.............armed truth seekers.......
................arms
inspectors..........flaming oil wells
...................battles in sandy Hells....
peace did come.....under the
blazing sun.....
..................but a deed was left undone.........
© 3/18/03 Faye Sizemore
PAGE TWO
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