Lou J. Klaiber

LOOKIN’ BACK… ON VIETNAM…

I used to enjoy
watching them sleep.

Especially when I drank their beer
and smoked their cigarettes.

I prayed time
to stand still,

but dawn always came again,

and the days were lit with the fire
that only war can know.

The nights became
more and more

the same.

I never got to thank the brave
who came and went…

… like the ‘Chopper’ Pilots
and the brave Gunners at the door of death
who saved so many,

… and returned again

for more.

I flip a coin each morning
and never look as it settles on the floor.

Don’t matter
… no more
the heads or tails
of war.

I know the darkness
and I see the door.

I held the fallen
and I did the ride.

… and home is here
and it is there,

and for me
it is always
somewhere.

… and the closer
it comes.

The more…

The Welcome!

… Home!