The Card
someday has arrivedwith a letter on the table
a fear always known
but foolishly denied
i won the lottery!
shaking as i open it
and those dark suppressed dreams
of eighteen years, a blur
i remember watching movies
ancient soldiers falling
hearing destiny calling
“look into my eyes”
guess that’s why
i never got serious
with the girl next door
a year or two of pleasure’s
not worth a lifetime of pain
and the torturing loneliness
will soon be gone
forever
at a musty V.F.W. hall
grandpa makes a toast
to my first legal brew
as i sit listening for hours
to war stories and lies
thru misty, drunken eyes
i know i’ll never see
their pride…in earning victory
their guilt…in escaping death
or their agony in returning
to a tattered world
that won’t understand
like the fuse of a bomb
my time serves a purpose
and the shard of metal
that takes my life
will be a crimson chariot
to nirvana
Norfolk, Virginia '87