memorialdaypictures.org
JUNE THOUGHTS
By David Allen
June is the month
That comes between
The holiday for heroes
Who died protecting
The freedoms guaranteed
By the second holiday.
The deadly shots of the first
Turn into fireworks for the second.
Decades ago, I first wondered ,
While listening to Marines
Jaw drunkenly in a San Juan bar
About the horrors of Vietnam,
Whether our brave military dead
Might be rolling in their graves.
Did they feel forgotten and betrayed
By the politicians who sent them to die
In a nightmare conflict that had nothing
To do with protecting their freedoms at home?
I was just a lucky sailor sent to do my two years
Of active duty on a rusting Landing Ship
That took war-hardened Marines on
Pleasure cruises, supposedly protecting
The Caribbean against Communism.
Mostly, we just drank and whored
And forgot about the still-raging blood fest
That would darken the souls of some veteran’s
Years after their uniforms were packed away.
This June I continue to scratch my head
Wondering what the dead from recent war-torn fronts
May feel about dying for oil, religion, despots and
The oligarchs that control the shifting sands
Of history from behind the screens.
