Viet Nam Veterans

Vietnam Veterans

Hate them all
Blame them all

In the burdened carried
Of never quite being able
To completely
Come home

Wrap yourself up
In the comfort
That you yourself
Will never have to be alone

By being of
The correct moral measure
Of what is good
And wrong and right

And that somehow you
Are pristine clean
When it comes to that
Era's struggle and fight

****
****

With

Ths selective focus on horror
That protects you and keeps you warm
Safe and reassured the expression
You've chosen is the correct form

To maintain the status perspective
The acceptable definition of tragedy
And thus avoiding all those other details
And inconvenient complexities

Like what happened to one million
Cambodians when the US departed
Or was it just in the movie The Killing
Fields that one should feel broken hearted

And certainly there are many many
Others we should avoid as well
Especially ones involving brotherhood
And the utter faith shown in the face of hell

That could have never happened there was
No comraderie in the mansoons pouring rain
No one ever carried the wounded to dust-offs
When they were bleeding and in pain

There were never any massacres of teachers
Up in the city of Hue
During Tet of 68 that was never
Done by the maruading NVA

No one was ever murdered in villages
To make sure no one would talk
Or tell the passing Marines where
It was safe to walk

Who cares whether the M-16 worked or not
Wasn't that just a passing incident
Instead of some whiz kids micro managing
Not calculating in lives were going to be spent

Ramming a rod down the barrel
To clear a jam that should never have been
Come on let's open up this clear channel
Vein into pain

Or is sensitivity
Not what you intend


Neils
5:14 pm
04/29/2003
*
in response to why some people
bring up My Lai
*
transcribed this time
11:14 pm
06/12/2005