Lou J. Klaiber

TROOPSHIP

A long line of Brothers in arms

California
November 1965

Soldiers
come from everywhere
to stand
sit
and sleep in piles

like laundry bags
on the docks in Long Beach

Where ships arrived

MSTS
ships
that silently loaded them all

and quietly
slipped away

The journey started
with a last look

silence
and a thousand eyes
gazing at the land called home

None knew
then
that we would never
ever
return
the same

again

…………… November 1966

Class A’s
and more silence

Ton Son Nhut
homeward flight
that… arrived at night

and into morning light

that saw silver caskets
in the silence of the Sun

silence living and dead
… and soldiers flying home

… coming in
through the OUT door

yet never
ever
really coming home

inside…

… growing old

restless at night
and in dreams

… of Troopship

Vietnam.