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Poem - Background Information:
Rev. Bill, I
was just going thru my records etc, searching for a buddy's
picture and ran across a "poem"
written by our Chaplain and given to me the night before I was
coming home from the 3rd Ord Bn, Long Binh Ammo Depot.
We were very close brothers and I
was the only one that he felt comfortable having a drink with. I
left there Nov. 1969.
This is a very special, and
extremely well done, piece of modern poetry. The guy was a genius
with a pen.
This is one verse that is
particularly beautiful, so you can see what I mean. Then it will be
up to you as to whether you want it on the site or not, either way is ok
with me.
Chaplain Bill N. McDonald
E-mail: chaplain@phonyexpress.net
Footnote: There is two of us Rev. Bills
Rev. Bill N. McDonald & myself, Rev. Bill McDonald
This above note was to me from my friend, the other Rev. Bill.
A Night in Vietnam Night
is coming in Vietnam.
The last rays of the twilight color pink
The fluffy mountain peaks of cloud
Which pulsate deep within as unseen lightning
Flickers silently and then is gone.
The old moon in the new moon's arms is sharp and clear
Beside the indistinctness of the evening haze
Which fades away to edge of night. The warm air has the special softness of a summers' eve.
It is night in Vietnam.
Quietly the air begins to move like some great draft
Drawn through the corridors of time and space
And finally the blowing sheets of rain wash down
To leave the smell of new-wet earth
And clean the heavy dust from leaf and flower. Within, the mist-like drops blow through the screen,
A million sparks of fire in the light.
The earth refreshed, the draft of air subsides
And raindrops cease their noisy clatter on the roof. It
is night in Vietnam.
New-spun by nimble spiders hanging there
The rafters wear their tiny strands of silk
Now strung with diamond water-gems
Soft-cushioned 'gainst the blackness of the night. A frog inquires where his comrades are
But only rasping crickets answer back. Unseen, the great hulk of a leafless tree
Grasps at a star with bony fingertips.
A once proud, verdant lord among its peers,
It now stands but a skeleton, no more. It is night in
Vietnam.
Somewhere in the distance one can hear
A cannon grumble at the lateness of the hour.
A rocket adds its death-burst to the night
While man-made stars float earthward
Protecting far-flung outposts by their light
Until the darkness snuffs them, one by one. It is night in
Vietnam
A truck speeds past, its load of quiet men
Weighed down by steel skullcaps and padded vests.
Weary men, bone-tired from a day of toil,
Trudge back to squat gray barracks for some rest
While others watch at guard posts through the night,
A waiting war for those we hope won't come. A wild pig lights a trip flare in the wire.
Weird shadows dance against the twisted strands
And men stare anxiously
Until the glare dies down and they relax once more. It
is night in Vietnam
Our homes are far away, and well-loved faces
Haunt the lonely hours we spend away --
How many days to go? A jeep bumps past along the wire fence
Trapped on a road which has no end,
Like war itself, a dusty, rock-strewn track.
Whose coming and whose going, lost in darkness,
Carry men away into the night. It is night in Vietnam
19 November 1969 (Long Binh Ammo Depot) Copyright Dick Mather 2003
richardmathercsb@cs.com.
His hand written note at the
end and dated, reads:
Observations made at 3rd Ord, the "biggest and the best,"
For my good friend Mac as he leaves for the States. Best wishes and thank you for
your support.
(s) Dick Mather Chaplain
Chaplain Mather was the best friend that I had in
Vietnam, along with the other best friends that I had, of course. But he
was special to me. We had a real special ambiance between us that I have
never forgotten. Praise God.
I was the "old timer" in the unit with 20 years
service. I am now a Chaplain as well, in correctional facilities, and have
to say that Chaps Mather had an influence on that.
Billie N. McDonald, CW3 USA RET
Korea and Vietnam
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