Thread: Vietnam

I tripped over this poem today looking for something else. Thought of Birch and some of our other members. I could wait til Veteran's Day, but we need to remember the cost every day. My nephew is currently talking to a recruiter. He discussed his reasons with me and they make sense, I told him do what he thinks is right for him and his family. His first child is due to be born a few months from now.

From commenters, more recent vets and family members also relate to the poem. The author is a Nam vet (1966), black chaplain, career military NCO, been diagnosed with Agent Orange-shortened lifespan, per his bio on the website.

Shadows Of Viet Nam
It matters not the time of day,
There are shadows that will not go away.
If I turn around and use my inner eye,
I see hazy visions of days and years gone by.

From playing soldier to combat real,
Shadows follow and bid me to feel.
Yet feeling's a risk I dare not take,
For fear that a pressured dam may break.

There are shadows that follow close behind
As I journey through this fragile time.
I see friends and places once dear to me,
Yet in this time there is only me.

I play the part that others have known.
They do not see that I am all alone.
Yet in the darkness I always see
Those shadows gently beckoning to me.

Shadows are but curtains thin,
That scarcely cover what is within.
It shows traces of passed things known,
Never revealing all that could be shown.

At Arlington as far as eye can see,
White crosses stand so silently.
There is a shadow so close it seems,
And no one hears the silent scream.

http://www.christianblog.com/blog/ch...s-of-viet-nam/

Alevin - thank you for sharing this....
There is no doubt we have many readers that will relate to this too. -Another salute to those who are wearing & who have worn a uniform of our country.
A friend's 19 yo grandson has just returned from Marine bootcamp out there in SanDiego. They were in church this morning, him in his Sunday uniform- so tall & fine looking. He has always been a person of good integrity, so naturally his grandma worried about what Bootcamp might do to him - when I asked if he felt camp had increased his strength of character, he answered with a grin & a strong, "Yes, maam"
He then corrected my pronunciation of Semper Fidelis.