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Boys at War |
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Looming death... only a whisper away;
Every moment adrenaline pumping, every hour, every day
Just boys grown old, going about war's business
Life and death, ever on the line assiduous
Boys enmeshed in this tempestuous time of trial
Walk the rim of existence with denial
Boy Scouts on a "big camp out," tune out war's reality
Hoping by laughing and talking, to ignore danger's futility.
Push away vengeful thoughts of war by living
Ground pounding klick after klick into oblivion
Playing hide-and-seek, score kept with the body count, grunt
One foot after the other going on a Cong hunt.
Pursue the wily, hairy beast
Yet think not about what will happen after killing's feast
Shuck war's ogre of insanity down deep in your soul
Or you'll surely go crazy in this hell-hole.
So go on crawling in your knock-down world
Fly your virginal patriotism unfurled
Be all you can be, a red-blooded pepper
Till comes the inevitable day you must pay the piper. |
By
Gary Jacobson
Copyright 2005
Listed
June 18, 2010 |
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About
Author...
In 1966-67, Gary Jacobson served with B Co
2nd/7th 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam as a combat
infantryman and is the recipient of the Purple
Heart.
Gary, who resides in Idaho writes stories he
hopes are never forgotten, perhaps compelled by
a Vietnamese legend that says, "All poets are
full of silver threads that rise inside them as
the moon grows large." So Gary says he
writes because "It is that these silver
threads are words poking at me � I must let them
out. I must! I write for my brothers who cannot
bear to talk of what they've seen and to educate
those who haven't the foggiest idea about the
effect that the horrors of war have on
boys-next-door."
Visit Gary Jacobson's site for more information
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