Vietnam
I am just a boy
who remembers
the war
delivered every
night in
living color
watching the
lottery as each
date is chosen
in fear
I am a young man
who knows because
my birthday
and my poor eyes
and not my
pacifism
I will not have
to die – yet
I fear
and my Father
who lost friends
in this war
that was not
his war – yet
felt the loss
like the brother
who died in his arms
I am an old man
who sees
The Wall
with all
the names
and cries
and I wonder
why we fight
and why
we love war
and why the
young men
who left
their tears
in the forest
have lost
their voices
and I
wonder why
we don’t cry
when we see
the fools who
think this
is just
a game
to call evil men
names as if
they are children
in the schoolyard
I am just a child
helpless in the
arms of my Mother
and I remember
it all as if
all the yesterdays
are right now
and I wonder
how they can
be so evil
--Thomas R. Thomas
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