GRINNING
Oh God they are coming again,
please help me, I don't want to die
They are all over the place,
coming up the hill, coming to kill me
I'm screaming and shaking with fear
but I aim carefully at them below and fire, over and over
That one is coming right for me,
he is looking directly at me... firing at me... got to get him
I am carefully and fire and his body jerks violently...
but he keeps coming
I fire again and he drops to his knees...
but he gets up and keeps coming at me...
how can he still be coming??
He is almost to me... I fire again and he falls again
but he crawls, dragging his body forward...
he finally stops and doesn't move again
The attack is over; they disappear in the trees...
I'm still alive... there is dead all over that hillside
I look out of my foxhole and look into the eyes of him...
he is staring at me with a grim on his face...
in death he is grinning at me
For the next two days the fight rages on...
every time I look over the rim of my foxhole I see that grinning face...
it won't go away
I live, despite heavy losses, my Scouts live
I'm out of Viet Nam, out of the Army... home in Minnesota...
working during the day and going to college at night
I'm driving east on Highway 13... on my way to a college class...
it is a nice dark winter night
Something tells me to look in the rearview mirror...
I do, and I am startled beyond belief...
he is in my back seat looking at me, with that same haunting grin!
I drive into the center median, stop and sob...
soon a Highway Patrolman stops to see if I am OK
I tell him yes, that I tried to avoid hitting deer...
I drive up onto the highway and away... soon heading home
Why was he there... did he come to haunt me?
He never came again but in the nightmares I often still see him...
grinning at me in his death