Delete if it seems to be politically incorrect.
I just feel this once a year
The Eagle Cried…
The acrid smell of cordite
Still hovered in the air.
No breeze to wash away
The scent of Satan’s hair.
---
The Medivacs are fading now,
Their cabins filled with dead.
So many grisly pictures
Are surging through my head
---
Another hill’s been taken
The earth all charred and black
We all know what’s coming,
Tomorrow…” Give it back!”
---
The Eagle cries from barren trees
His tears, he cannot hide.
Where once a proud, young soldier stood
My Warrior Brother, died
---
The scorched ground that surrounds me.
Am I in Dante’s Hell?
This skirmish now is over
We saw them as they fell.
---
My Warrior Brother, Donny,
Died that gruesome day.
He took the bullets meant for me
With his final words did say,
---
“Tell Mom and Sis I loved them!
Please! Don’t let me down!”
I promised I would tell them
A promise I’d soon drown.
---
The Eagle cried that tragic day,
Back in Sixty-Eight.
A promise made… un-kept,
To my Warrior mate.
---
One thing that I’m sure of,
A thing that gives no rest.
The hounds of Hell still battle
Deep within my chest.
---
A bottle’d been my address
For forty years or more.
I’d take ‘most any drug,
I couldn’t find the door.
---
Somewhere there’s a record,
Of drugs and booze and tears.
When I crawled out of the bottle
I’d been buried in for years.
---
Half a decade sober.
Not a real long time.
That’s how long I’m clean tho’,
My life’s becoming mine.
---
The winds of war are blowing by.
In history books they last.
I’m in the winter of my years,
My best days... they have passed.
---
One thing that I’ve never done
One thing I cannot face:
To visit the Memorial,
The headstone for that place.
---
My daughter said, “You have to go,
To honor those who died!”
I said “I know I should…”
But that I’d go… I lied
---
Then one day the phone rang,
A call I knew I’d dread.
It was Donny’s sister,
“Please help me!” Karen pled.
---
“I’ve spent these years just searching
I even hired a sleuth.
I finally found out where you live…
I need to know the truth.”
---
“The Army’s always been real vague,
And their answers never matched.
I need to know what happened.
They always seemed detached”
---
“Our Mother has passed on now,
But I still need to know.
I’d really love to meet with you,
Please… just tell me how!”
---
The hounds of Hell are roused again
Their howling has re-started.
I force their shrieks out of my mind,
My path, it has been charted
---
Quiet now, you dogs of war!
It's time for a new quest!
It's time for me to wrestle you,
And lay your souls to rest!
---
Then I thought the one thing,
A thought I'd never say,
Should I meet her at The Wall,
And put my hounds at bay?
---
I finally said I’d meet with her,
With a voice that was not mine.
“The Wall is where I’ll meet you.
I’ll see you there at nine.”
---
I saw flowers in her hand,
As she walked my way.
“Yellow roses were his favorite.”
Later she would say.
---
“Hello, my name is Karen.”
She said when we did meet
“Donny wrote me many things,
I knew that you’d be sweet!”
---
“I know this must be hard for you,
But I really need to know.
Please tell me how my brother died,
That day, so long ago.”
---
The moment had arrived.
I could hide this fact no more.
I said things I’d kept hidden,
Behind my mind’s locked door
---
She took my hand in hers,
And waited patiently.
My head bowed down as I thought
Of the words I had to say.
---
I knew my words would stab her heart
But she would not look away.
She watched me as I told her
Of that ghastly day.
---
“Your Brother died in my arms
In that nameless place.
He took the bullets meant for me
And died as we embraced!”
---
Her head dropped down when I was done
Her chin upon her chest.
A single tear rolled down her cheek,
“Now Donny’s laid to rest”
---
I walked with her as she made her way
To the Wall of Stone.
She laid her flowers at the base
Her silent prayer was sown.
---
At last I’ve honored those who fell,
Whose names are etched in rows.
We touched the name of Donny,
Who died so long ago.
---
And we cried…
---
The Eagle’s cry is heard again,
It lives within the Wall!
Each time a name is touched
The Eagle gives his call.
---
© Richard Turton 2014
All Rights Reserved
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Originally Posted by Crappie Bob
