IS THERE SUCH A PLACE...?
There is a place beyond tomorrow
when Earth shall know no sorrow...
Old veterans could walk away
from the vivid scenes of yesterday...
no longer memories written in blood
spilled so carelessly upon the ground
or upon the ocean's rollin' waves
beneath which lie their graves...
The sea must be sick when mixed
with human blood and body parts...
when strewn upon its floor
lie ships and planes
which will sail or fly no more...
Seasick is the salty brine
which washes o'er
the wrecks of time...
and longs for placid times
in its embrace...
of better times and place...
Iron-Bottom Sound
where rusting hulks abound
where bones of foe
and friends are found...
of tanks and planes and
guns galore...
decorate the floor
of fifty miles or more...
Aircraft Carriers and destroyers too
along with troop transports
and sailors and soldiers
not a few...
All the toys
and all the boys of war
from fifty-eight years ago
lie undisturbed in waters deep...
disturb not their sleep
where they , their vigils keep
with hollowed eyes and faces pale...
for they've faced the storms
above the sea and typhoon gales
which tore their sails
when screamin' winds rocked
their ships and sixteen inch guns
boomed with sound like thunder...
sending enemy ships down under...
to a watery grave...
where none can save...
nor care a whit what pain they bear
to a thousand loved ones...
who await their return when war is past.
Waiting, waiting, when war is o'er
upon some distant shore...
What ship will bring them back
to the homes from which they've gone
when those who wait have hair of gray
and are older then when the boys sailed away?
Sad, sad, is the day
when war takes loved ones away...
and brings them not back once more
but leaves them scattered
on the ocean's floor...
What kind of place in this
where loved ones are forever missed
And those who survive
have memories of death
but are yet alive?
The 'Mares of the Night '
bring scenes which line the ocean floor
of buddies who have lain there
for fifty years or more...
What right have these 'Mares '
to curse those who survive
who'd rather be dead than alive?
Try as we may
we cannot turn away...
from the bloody scenes of the past
but will view them...
for as long as life shall last!