'Round Midnite: Veteran's Day
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
America The Beautiful
by
G.D. Peters
I died, my love, on Veteran's Day
in Nineteen Hundred Sixty-Eight
when purple mountains majesty
above me, towering, called me home
a land mine was my killing mate
it slept as I approached the field
until my step awoke my fate
uniting us in flesh and steel
in unison our parts embraced
our broken fragments glued by blood
the war waged on while I went down
but no one fought where once I stood
how long my flickering flame burned down
each dying breath filled less of me
I saw the field in my home town
where once I climbed the highest tree
and looked below, the streets and homes
stretched o'er the land, both far and wide
I could not see the oceans, though
regardless of how high I climbed
how calm the battleground became
as I lay ripped from limb to lung
no more aligned with one brigade
no longer knowing which side won
amidst a field of flames I lay
guns' spitfire serenading me
I looked, my love, on Veteran's Day
and saw from sea to shining sea
© 2001 G.D. Peters
Posted by cronish at November 11, 2002 02:21 AM