A SOLDIER HAS GONE...!

I sit here
thinking you wrote me a letter
but you did not.

I guess I can be sad as well,
and write one for you.

I have done this before.
But then it was along time ago.

A place called Viet Nam.

Here it is son!

as best I can......... your letter home.

"I left America
one year ago
between the distance of life
... and death,
I left my home.

Oh! My dear friend.
I have died in the distance
of Liberty
and your old words of Viet Nam.

I was a shadow when it was shadow.
I was night
when all was night.

I was wind
when it was wind.

The thunder came upon me
and I carried it within the rain

... I heard the blessing of silence,

and I have taken my place

in the sky.

Now I know
Old Brother!

The distance
that a man finds
between the fires of war

... and the truth."

©Copyright April 23, 2004 by Lou J. Klaiber