Click the box below to listent to Bill Janes recite his poem, accompanied by a video recently shot and created by Bill. The presentation is a 1.99mb WMV (Windows Media File) that plays for 1:55 minutes

After the Storm

AFTER THE STORM

And so the stormy sea subsides,
But leaves its frothy tongues askew
On littered beach I wander 'bout
And look for something new.

Flotsam here and jetsam there
Are what's left to remind
Of tempest's rage, and sailor's cries
On ships that left the land behind.

I kick at drifts and frothy clumps
But nothing do I find
Of valiant sailors on the sea,
To ease my troubled mind.

The Sailors of the Sea of Life
I want again to see.
Their voyage wrecked, their cargo lost,
Their loss a part of me.

On littered beach there's one who seeks
The answers lost in time
But what I seek is Viet Nam
And, Comrades that were mine.

No Trace I find on battered shores
Of Friends lost long ago
Nor do I find the answers
To pain that plagues me so.

I wade in frothy tongues to seek
The wisdom of the Sea
And Answer just one question:
Why them and why not me?

©Copyright 2003 by William N. Janes, Sr.