Harry

 

 

My uncle fought his drinking as long as I could remember,

After serving two tours in Korea and one in Vietnam.

I honor him each and every eleventh of November,

Sent home after his bus was ripped in half by a bomb.

 

He finished his service riding a desk in the States,

Drinking to forget all he had been through.

He and I shared quite a few heated debates,

Staring into the distant past, stating “If you only knew.”

 

I never got to thank him for all that he gave,

Damn those words that this poet left unsaid!

I can’t even say them to a marble marker on a grave,

By the changing world and media I was misled.

 

I wish that I could unwind all of those years,

And been more supportive and understanding.

Even now I am still brought to tears,

Unforgivable, my ignorance notwithstanding.

 

My uncle went overseas to stand for freedoms call,

Nearly mortally wounded by a terrorist attack.

Yes my uncle we to do his duty and did not fall,

But a different man, different uncle came back.

 

11/11/2021

Reviews

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I too had an uncle who served in the marines for two tours in Vietnam and was never the same when he came back. He left a large piece of himself over there. But he said the most profound wise words I ever heard that defines the ravages of war. "You can't force freedom at the point of a gun. You can only kill it." He said he lost a lot of brothers over there. His eyes told me of his regret and guilt coming back without them. Democracy has to be an aspiration formed in the heart of a people and can't be a value forced on others. Cultures are different in this world and their ideologies do not always mesh with certain political ideas. Especially western. There is a fine line between freedom and fascism; one can be destroyed at the point of a gun.