Alan L. Winters

Portrait of an old Vietnamese man during the Battle of Hue, 1968. Photo by: Don McCullinASIAN MAN

Asian man, I know you.
You carry with you the heat and dust and typhoon rains
That are the fragments of forgotten dreams.
Deep within a shrapneled soul
I hate you and fear you,
Respect and honor you.
You are a survivor of the war, but so am I.
Whose side were you on?
Which parcel of land did you occupy?
Did I once know you as my brother
Or did we shoot at one another?

But that was long ago.
I carry in me the scars of war
And I see the same in you.
So perhaps the time has come
That it best be left alone
And leave the questions still unanswered,
The answers still unknown.

Author’s Note: When I was on the train one night going in to work I saw a man a bit older than I, who looked Vietnamese and seemed frighteningly familiar. I had worked for some time with the Vietnamese but only this man affected me.