I stumbled across this poem the other day and found it hauntingly poignant. Thought I would share:
If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
1 comment:
So true and pertinent to Vietnam. People took out their dissatisfaction with the war on the soldiers with disastrous results. I hear the same thing is happening in Europe now. Studies indicate that some 68,000 Vietnam vets died due to drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, or suicide in part due to the reception they received. In a sense, we killed more of our own soldiers than the enemy.
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