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TALKING TO MY CHILDREN
ABOUT THE WAR
I FORGOT TO LIE!
Children
I’ve killed people
My God
can this
be so?
I am gentle
A father by choice
And proud
to be so.
But children
My dearest children
I’ve killed
Someone else’s
Children
My God
Can this
Be so?
#
December, 1974 - Berkeley, California
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I WENT TO YOUR WAR
I went
To your war.
I went
Because you’d
Waved a flag
You gave me
honor
and
battle field medals
In exchange,
I gave you my youth
And
All my youthful dreams.
I killed,
In order to survive
And to keep my
Buddies alive.
And
Now
I just cry
Because
I let you
Do this me
#
June, 1974 - San Jose, California
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THE WALL REMEMBERS YOUR NAME
I stood at The Wall
Trying to picture your face
On that silent Black slab of marble
I remember
That war
And us
When we were there,
I always thought
We would both come home together
Now I am meeting you here
On some giant tombstone wall
Face to face
In the coldness of stone.
The Wall will always
Remember your name
Forever
A fallen warrior
Gone, but never
to be forgotten
I lay my
Tears on your name
And touch the engraved letters
The Wall
Will never forget
And never
Will I
#
January, 1989 - At The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall in Washington, DC
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REFLECTIONS ON THE
WALL - VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
Everyone knows a name or two.
It is a feeling
like the coldest winter wind
down your spine,
and
makes tears want to fall.
Standing and staring at myself,
in black endless reflections,
I look around me,
Careful not to open and expose
my heart
like a window,
so that some righteous
hero of the peace movement,
with pot stained teeth
and photos of Jane Fonda,
still yellowing in his wallet,
can tell me how
he was right all along!.
I have crossed too many graveyards,
to have to yield my heart now.
I touch the face in the reflection
and seek oneness with it.
I still seek those dreams
that will remain sealed forever
in this black granite slab.
Those were the dreams
of my youth
that got buried here.
#
1998 - Washington Vietnam Veteran’s Monument
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