Bobby Easton

VALLEY OF SILENCE

In May of “ninety three” I made,
A journey long overdue,
To touch a name of a sailor gone,
A childhood friend I once knew.

I went to the heart of our nation’s heart,
To a wall of granite stone,
A final goodbye twenty-five years late,
A final goodbye said alone.

At the top of the walk I found his name,
In a book upon a stand,
And a single tear fell to the earth,
As I touched his name with hand.

I turned to face this hallowed ground,
This wall of granite stone,
And all around the city screamed,
It’s voice, a deafening tone.

There were thousands all around me,
“Rolling Thunder” was in town,
As I stepped into the waiting line,
To start my walk on down.

Five feet, ten feet,
And then begins the wall,
And suddenly you realize,
There’s no sound at all.

Into the valley of silence,
Hushed voices fill the air,
The sound of tears and memories;
You realize you are there.

A brother hugs a brother,
Their cammo’s soaked with pain:
A mother cries her tears of loss,
As her fingers trace a name.

I find the name of my boyhood friend,
Too high upon the wall,
A ladder appears with a volunteer,
It’s no trouble at all.

He does a charcoal tracing,
My quest is at an end,
But I want to touch and say goodbye,
To a long lost boyhood friend.

He says he can’t, it’s against the rules,
But with a twinkle in his eye,
He puts his hat upon my head,
And I climb up toward the sky.

I touch his name and say goodbye,
As tears began to flow,
When I descend to the valley floor,
He says, “Son let it go”.

I lose control and begin to sob,
Emotion flows like rain,
A vet says welcome home brother,
And hugs me for my pain.

Now each year I make a trek,
To the heart of our nation’s heart,
To the valley of silence, the Vietnam Wall,
Where healing gets it’s start.

To the valley of silence in a city of noise,
I guess that about says it all,
The price of freedom you want to know?
IT’S WRITTEN ON THE WALL.