The Ghost of Viet Nam

We sat in the back yard waiting between words
For impulses to pass
Knowing sentimental reactions were like undisciplined children
Needing that look
And the quiet to be heard louder

But there was no break in the intentional
Though I stuttered sometimes to
Choose words mindful of truth and sensitivity
And he listened brilliantly
A master juggler of multiple short fuses

I had to set my drink in the grass to concentrate
Respectfully stating my adult opinions
Respectfully considered beliefs
Provoking possible denials
To come out from behind walls of
Government housing

And I said that soldiers knew but couldn't believe
After having lost friends, those bonds deep
That the lives that they risked and lost were for lies
And the fear of insanity closed their eyes

And putting the pieces where they belonged
Love for country not confused with love for its cons
He remembered the body parts he saw in bags
The lives that were shattered, who once laughed and played gags

He remembered the moaning, the blood and the shock
He remembered the anger, the innocence lost
He remembered the confusion in the combat zone
He remembered the fears of death and of home

He remembered the names once alive, etched in stone
He remembered the youth they gave up long ago
And he looked at me, seriously, to acknowledge the truth
That war was political, and soldiers its food

War steals peace, belief, faith and dreams
Arms, legs, lives and families
And welcomes survivors home with reality TV
Medical bills and mind numbing pain

that won’t go away

We looked at the facts, overwhelmed with the debt
And marveled that we haven’t learned a thing yet
That the wise and corrupt sit in power and lead
The masses: fertilizer for evil kings’ greed

The promise of bounty and benefit sways
The great herd of sheep who live out their days
Convincing themselves that the crowd knows its way
In blind faith they travel, unaware of their state

We sat in the backyard with the grill smoking well
Became quiet reflecting on freedom and hell
Sighed a prayer in memorial of those men deceived
That a better world was what their lives guaranteed