VIET NAM PARADOX
Stalking your enemy
in far off lands,
through steaming jungles
far from home and safety -
living month after month
in the shadow of death
and the ever present fear
of punji pits,
and mine-strewn tracks -
and death by tripwire,
or machine gun or AK47
in hidden bunkers -
Death waiting at every step.
But can you feel my son,
how totally alive we were,
living fully in each moment,
engulfed in a purity
of all the senses,
focused only on Life itself
and Life's true companion Death -
none of the extraneous distractions
of ordinariness and everyday being,
of ordinary people
living their ordinary everyday lives.
How utterly,
how completely,
exhilaratingly,
Alive.