((Images of an Ideal) (war verses of Vietnam—1971)
Faces
in War I
—endless lizards
sunken in the sands
Traverses across our
paths
And the hot sky,
appears as from a swell
of the sun, —
A will stronger than
man or animal
There is a murmuring
of men who cannot
rest or sleep
Faces pale and blank;
Sad faces (they don’t want to be here).
Dead are their lips,
yet this evening with
drink they will laugh
and sing!
Eyes connecting with
eyes, burnt of life
like rats and crows
And tonight I’m on
guard duty,
—searching for weary
eyes like those.
No: 4463 (7-11-2014)
God’s
Face in War II
—funny, but I never
got angry at the Vietcong
trying to kill me,
during the war in Vietnam
Not even in my dreams
Not even shook with
terror or hate, for the VC
Not even a lip
trembling…
Not even a smear
falling…
Somehow I shoved
aside this cloud
Where blood comes
from all sides!
Why?
Perhaps because both
sides have broken
God’s golden rule:
To love one another
as you’d love Him!
No: 4462(7-11-2014)
Rocket
Fire III
(‘It will pass’)
—When under rocket
attack,
you know that it will
pass:
The fury, the
torment,
The intermediate
stillness,
The interlude between
now
and then… will pass!
The promise of
another rocket
across the still
moon, and
the tumult of sounds
it carries
with its wrath—
You know that it will
pass…
It is just a thing, a
thing without
a brain, comatose,
yet vain.
No: 4461(7-11-2014)
The
Rocket VI
—pulsing in the air,
then a whistling,
split and seared,
then a thunderous crash!
Then an innumerable
shrapnel flash…
Suddenly a shell
overhead, closes in
Then the purr of the
rocket changes to a
beastly wail, it has
missed its kill, but
it has its target
zeroed in, it will try again!
There is the silence:
my soul, heart mind,
goes still…
The whole area is
cloaked in stillness—
No, not quite fear,
just knowing the
upcoming rocket,
carries domination,
that it is a creature
of its on longings!
No: 4460(7-11-2014
