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This Is A Place Of Remembrance
Paradox
Vietnam moon
circled by a blood red haze
Silhouetted choppers
The jungles ablaze
.......................Dancing under the moon
.......................Listnin' to purple haze
.......................Silhouettes against the fire
.......................These are the love-in days
Perimeters been breached
Coming through the wire
Screaming like ghosts
around a funeral fire
........................Sittin' in a circle
........................Smokin' Mary Jane
........................Howling at the stars
........................ain't feeling no pain
Sand bags exploding
Red clay taking flight
Fixed bayonets
Another hell filled night
........................The fuzz is coming down
........................Busting up the night
........................They ain't cool man
........................Don't they know we got rights
Smoke in the wind
Death in the breeze
Hope I don't have many
Nights like these
........................Number thirteen
........................Hovers in the air
........................Masks the reality
........................Of boys dyin' over there
Drenched in sweat
Tremors in my knees
Steeped in regret
Can't believe what I see
........................Nineteen sixties
........................We did what we pleased
........................Psychedelic clouds
........................Get out of Vietnam please
Looking for the sky
There's a ringing in my ears
Grounds caving in
God Lord what's happening here?
.........................Reaching for the sky
.........................Visions in our head
.........................Flowers instead of guns
.........................Better red than dead
Remember us
We gave you the right
You chose to run
While we continued to fight
.........................Carrying signs
.........................Chanting to the beat
.........................Braids in your hair
.........................Burning our Flag in the street
Two thousand three
And we're all still free
Thank God for the youth
Who fought for the American dream
©9/04/03 Richard Preston (Boon)
THE BRAVE (for RP)
IN THE DARKNESS
OF NIGHT
WE SEE THEM,
'GHOSTDANCING ON THE MOON'.
FALLING
BENEATH THE LIGHT OF FLARES,
THEN
RISING....... SLOWLY,
FIRING,
AND FALLING AGAIN.
WE CALL OUT
AS WE DID
THEN,
AGAINST THEIR FALLING AWAY
...AND
DYING,
AS NIGHT RETURNS
IN SILENCE,
THE MOON CRYING
AS IT HIDES ITS TEARS
BEHIND A SILENT CLOUD.
.....................................................................
.
I FIND NO COMFORT
ANYMORE,
....ANYWHERE.
NO RETURNING
HOME.
I SIT WITH THEM
TIL MORNING COMES.
I WAIT
....... REMEMBERING.
TEARS
FALL,
... FOLLOWING MY EYES
TOWARD THE RISING
MORNING
OF THE SUN.
CALIBER
©9/4/03 LJKlaiber CY
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Crow Wisdom......(for RSA) | |
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Real poems are made in fire,
born of the Sun,
and the wayward Moon
deep within our eyes.
Our words fly as birds
upon a page.
They remind us of truth
that we are all going home.
So we gather
together
and fear not the weather.
.....wind and stormy rain
hidden in the night.
The course is set.
We shall all die.
Our formation flies
always and together
.. toward home.
So far away it seems,
yet is here,... right here
within the eye of the Universe.
Be sad?
Yes!
...but know the beauty that awaits us all
who wash themselves
in the miracle of love.
Who climb upon the rocks of life
and cleanse their hair...,
sing their song,
...and Pray.
CALIBER
©6 Sep03 /For Becky
LJKlaiber BPJ
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It ain't over,
until it's over......
For Cal...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The Vietnam Veterans last battle,
will not be fought on a distant hill
...This battle lies at home
...it lives within our hearts and minds
...it follows us wherever we roam
will not be put off by malarias chill
...past experience will tell you that
...through Nams fevered haze,
...sweating drops of salty rain
...made no difference when we were under attack
will not be halted by rotting feet
...they were our only way to go
...through putrid streams,
...slippin' in mud and dust
...survival is all we had to know
will not be altered by blistering heat
...The Sun came up as a fireball,
...glued our fatigues right to our skin
...we wrung them out as best we could
...and melted back into the jungle again
will not be stopped by flowing blood
...we fought we died, we laughed, we cried
...lined our Brothers up day by day
...we blocked it out and continued to fight
...till the choppers came and flew em' away
will not be washed away by monsoon floods
...we slipped and fell on this rain soaked hell
...gaining one step and losing five
...we clawed, we scratched clinging on to hope
...praying to God we would get there alive
will not be postponed by terrible thirst
...no water whatsoever to drink,
...our tongues were almost fried
...we would settle for a warm cup of piss
...just drop in a tab of Iodine
will not be deterred by body bags
...they lined em' up neath ponchos of green
...steel tags hanging from their toes
...we sat and wept cause they paid freedoms debt
...it was as though time itself had froze
will not be soothed because teardrops fell
...Time and tears will never wash
...this empty feeling of loss away
...tears fell from brave men of war
...By guilt our hearts are stained
will not be finished because they built the Wall
...The final frontier held together by names
...carved deep in black Granite stone
...we stand here surrounded by 50.000 names
...why do we feel so alone?
The Vietnam veterans last battle will end
...but not because of any of these
...we will carry our brothers
...until we step into the light
...that's when our war will cease to be.......
Semper Fidelis Bro...
Boon. ©9/10/03
Richard Preston
'Been A Long Road Home...John Thomas
"Damn Cal! Where the hell ya been?
I done figured you was dead,
Bro!"
(smilin)
"been slow down here , since Daddy died."
"Ain't the same no more Brother!
I sold the Bait Shop,
and I just rent rides for tourists.
I gettin' old Cal!
Aint we?....All?
I got nuthin' left but the water,..Cal
and gas money that don't go nowhere.
Take ol #14 Cal!
Take her for free....!
....
awww shit,
...............OK
Pay the fuel.
....and run til dark Bro!"
(late that day)
"come back anytime Cal!
I missed ya
Brother!"
(Time goes on.)
CAL
©9/10/03 LJKlaiber
I Heard A Nam Vet Say...
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We fought in that Asian war...right or wrong
We may have been missed by the bullets song
but something as deadly may just come along
We may think that we are now long out of the shit
Let me tell we aint part way out of the woods yet
...The biggest threat of later life is Agent Orange
Diabetes and cancer...a few to make you cringe
With you and death...a meeting it can arrange
We could have been touched with its toxic tinge
...just more victims of the deadly Agent Orange
Thirty years on down the road we still cringe
We know it may wait quietly years for its revenge
while we suffer much like a dog with the mange...
waiting for our government to begin to avenge
before theres nothing more left of us to scavenge
...just the fallen in the long war with Agent Orange
...We need action now...No more words...no more speech
for like the jungle it destroyed...its tendrils reach
© Faye Sizemore 9/15/03
For David Alexander ~ "Poppa" |
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