Where Have They Gone, poem 1

These two poems are a new re-write of a poem I posted earlier. They are about my recollections of the impact of the war in Vietnam and it's impact on a small town.

Where have they gone
The young and the proud?

Will we say their names again?
Will we sing their praises on Sundays in church?
Will their photographs hang in Willies’ barbershop windows
Alongside the heroes of World War 2, 
The Norman Rockwell prints
And his autographed photos of Ted Williams and Rocky Marciano?

Will there be a celebration of their sacrifices in the town square
The mayor making a speech and mounting a plaque?
The mothers and sisters and wives crying inconsolably?

Or will their fathers hide their grief in bottles of moonshine
The bitterness growing with every drop
Their mothers asking themselves in secrecy what they’ve done wrong
Sisters feeling unprotected without big brother
Little brothers lacking a role model, what chance do they have?
Will no one waltz in the street when their names are mentioned
Or will they merely turn their grief away?

Who will lead us into the future?
Who will install that first traffic light?
Their photos in the Sunday paper big smiles all around
Where will our smiles come from without our boys as heroes?

There will be no continuity here
A generation is lost
Our sons have been ripped from their future
Johnny will not come marching home again. 
 
Where have you gone, my heroes my heroes,
Why have you left our lives?
Where have you gone, my heroes my heroes,
And what will become of us?

 

 

Reviews

[katie]

Great piece! I'm not big on war pieces but this is well written. It's sad how many families have been ripped apart by war. How many generations lost. The things that could be accomplished by those men who died, could have been miraculous. But we have to have hatred and war. It's sickening.

[daninstockholm]

Thank you, Katie! I appreciate it!

[...]

At wars all killilng became legal. Something realy wrong . I feel sorry for all victims . Now we know during second world war not just Germans or Russian make crimes. But also west alies. You write great reflection . It s great wound and where are heroes now. Politics create another wars and we serve them and we dont know why. At world of today we have still brutal wars. SYRIA ,UKRAINE ,SUDAN ETC. hOW WE STOP OUR GREET AND HOW WE STOP OUR POLITICIANS.

[daninstockholm]

Thank you very much! Of course you're right as well about the horrors of war. Vietnam was a dreadful war in so many ways, but what struck me also was that those who went over to fight in this very controversial war were abandoned and outcast with a great deal of cruelty by society and the government when they came back. This is what I'm referring to when I wrote this. I'm glad you liked it and of course you understood what i meant! Thanks again for your kindness!

[Aventicus]

As one generation of heroes fulfills its duty, another one shall enter to take their place and remember those who had fallen so that they might stand.

[Carbon Muse]

War has never been kind to those who are left behind, but has always served some purpose ... had some greater good come from it. Now, however, there is only sadness and senseless loss. Will we ever have true hero's, not in the sense of someone giving their lives to save others, but someone altering the future ... making it better for those left behind.

The poem, to me, touches on the senseless loss of life, over what ... hatred and anger, resources already there to be shared by all yet coveted by others, for themselves.

"Or will their fathers hide their grief in bottles of moonshine
The bitterness growing with every drop"

The whole stanza cries out over the unfairness of it all.

There is no pride for a father who has lost their son, to a war without meaning. There is no lesson of valor or heroism to be taught when their brother falls in a war that has no moral compass. There is nothing to rejoice in fallen hero's who's sacrifice left only pain and anguish.

A very thought provoking and cautionary poem... thank you for sharing this beautiful piece.

[daninstockholm]

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comments! I greatly appreciate it!

[TM]

This was beautiful. I think WW2 should be spelled out or maybe never actually said since it kind of cuts into the flow and emotion of this peice but it's a great poem

[daninstockholm]

Thank you so much!! I will definitely take your comments into consideration. I'll give it some thought and decide later, Thanks again!!