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Flashback |
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There he sits as usual,
alone with his innermost
thoughts;
these days he's content to be alone;
no
other company is sought.
No wife's homey chatter, no
noisy kids' clatter,
only the blessed quiet
that
surrounds him on the outside,
but now, in his mind,
there's a riot.
Noisy, whirling chopper blades
join chattering, clattering guns
as he groans and curses
the darkness,
praying for the morning sun.
Then
Spooky's flares turn the night to noon,
as with a
whirring roar,
a red tongue of tracers licks hungrily
down,
searching the jungle floor.
The enemy
retreats on silent feet,
ghosting away through the trees,
while the choking smoke gradually floats
away on the
drifting breeze.
Suddenly, he sees there are no trees,
no underbrush, nor any leaves,
just rumbling tanks
advancing in ranks
through clouds of sand on TV.
He suppresses a sigh, blinks rueful eyes,
aims the remote
control,
and with a gentle press of his finger,
retains his hold on his soul. |
By
Thurman P. Woodfork
Copyright 2003, Revised 2006
Listed
January 26, 2011 |
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Author's Note: Dedicated to C. D., who had a sort of epiphany
About
Author...
Thurman P. Woodfork (Woody) spent his
Air Force career as a radar repairman in places as disparate as
Biloxi, Mississippi; Cut Bank, Montana; Tin City, Alaska; Rosas,
Spain and Tay Ninh, Vietnam. In Vietnam, he was assigned to
Detachment 7 of the 619th Tactical Control Squadron, a Forward Air
Command Post located on Trai Trang Sup. Trang Sup was an Army
Special Forces camp situated about fifty miles northwest of Saigon
in Tay Ninh province, close to the Cambodian border.
After Vietnam, Woody remained in the Air Force for nine more years.
Visit
Thurman P. Woodfork's site for more information
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