MY FRIEND
We met on a battlefield one summer's day;
we were teenage kids and loved to play.
We had a fight that took time to mend
but after a while, he became my friend.
We felt invincible, in our bird of prey.
We soared like eagles, until that day.
I awoke one night trembling in fear;
somehow I knew that death was near.
It happened so fast and with a terrible roar.
I looked for my friend but he was there no more!
I began to shake and felt all alone.
the smoke had cleared but my friend was gone.
I hope someday to see him again;
his crooked smile and his funny grin.
I thought I saw him the other day -
just a glimpse. then he went away.
Forgotten sounds had filled my ears.
He looked the same after all these years.
I find it hard to fight back tears
on scary nights when he reappears.
He gave his life for us all,
and now his name is on The Wall.
©Copyright circa 1980 by Randy D. Jackson
(Revised January 15, 2003)
Author’s Note: Tony - I do need your help. You see, I was a street kid before going to Viet Nam and poorly educated. To be honest I enlisted only because I had been so hungry for so long. I never really thought my poem would be accepted. Now that it has, I realize I sent you a version in the works and not the finale, which I enclose.
Randy D. Jackson
January 15, 2003