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Open Poetry #27
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Trinkets, War and Time...
| Open Poetry #27 |
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Trinkets, War and Time... |
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Magnus
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135South Carolina, USA 
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Forgive me if this is a little long. I thought about you Father, as I lay down that cup, those seemingly “cheap” trinkets upon the table. And as I thought, tears came, my lips quivered a little, I sighed. I thought about those lads, not any older than you. You know them, their masculinity hiding behind boyish eyes and a grin that melts steel, let alone hearts. You knew them all, they were part of your life then, back when bullets were free, particularly those being shot at you. I saw you there, your manly chest, so matted with that dark suit of manly armor, wondering if I would ever look nearly as manly as you, as they...still boys by comparison to now, walking that rickety road of the elderly as you, beside me climb our hills together. Names of “Goff”, “TJ”, and others scrawled upon those black and white memories of a war, when souls were slain by the second and screams were still echoing in ears 50 years hence. You still wonder where they are, all of them that shared the nights with you, whether on the rolling decks of gray steel or the cobbled street of some place where a dime got you almost the night... You flew that flag then, you know which one. The one you guys spilled your life for. So many of them, arriving daily on somber ships in their wooden beds. Eternal rest remembered beyond infinity. I cherish those pictures, each one that you have shown me over half a century. They are as much a part of me as your shipmates were you. I look at them and I smile. Why smile at war? Why? Because each of you has carried our freedom gallantly. You may as well be there beside those colonists, shivering in the cold, eating gruel and much less. All of you have done so much to give, to preserve that which I have, which we have... And, those “trinkets”..... Costing me nothing but a smile and returned respect to a fellow sailor, each of them I lay in your withered hands with my love and admiration for you as a father, a warrior and a fellow sailor, for those trinkets are compliments of a Navy that is most proud of you, of us. They are priceless to me... [This message has been edited by Magnus (06-29-2003 03:49 PM).] |
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| © Copyright 2003 Barry J. Tackett - All Rights Reserved | |||
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david_strontium New Member
since 2003-06-28
Posts 7 |
That's very nice. Did your father fight in World War 2 or Vietnam? |
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Magnus
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135South Carolina, USA |
Thank you, he served in the USN from 1943-1948. A man deserving of more than I could ever write of him. We both served in the Navy, though mine was later...1967-1992... I picked up a few window stickers, a coffee cup and a couple of other things from the local recruiting office...He will enjoy these little trinkets...a small token of the love and admiration I have for him...and all the others that served with him |
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QjQ Member Elite
since 2003-04-18
Posts 3756U.S.A. |
very,,very nice "mag" i enjoyed this write very much... A voice of honesty |
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