Axis of Death
(A Vietnam War Poem) Part II
In the war in
Vietnam, they cut off hands, and cut out eyes!
Just a few of the many torments!
I found a bravery
in me, unsuspected, but all the same it was there—
I called out in
the darkness, to a man’s shadow, he was frozen in fright
We were being bombarded
with rockets this certain night!
I slapped him silly,
shook him sideways, per near upside-down.
The explosions
froze him up, like a turnip.
I knew it would
all be over in an hour or two, or at least by morning!
And so it was, by
late morning, all over.
After all these
years I can still see this dummy target, I had to shake, rattle and roll out of shock, —
Clumsy as an ox!
And for that
reason I couldn’t help having a certain confidence in me.
“I’ve had enough”
he finally said to me, and then ran and hid, to where, who knows…, I never seen him again…
I said, “He’s
too frightened to be in this war!”
But being a little
frightened perhaps is good therapy?
No: 5202/4-28-2016
