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Open Poetry #44
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Ringo
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Saluting with misty eyes

0 posted 2009-02-26 02:30 PM


I know this is long, and I apologize. The inspiration was gotten from the song "Some Gave All" by Billy Ray Cyrus. I hope you enjoy it

As I walked along a city street
Absorbed in my own world
Worried about my old pain
A weary, old voice
Broke into my consciousness
Shaking me out of my selfish thoughts
"Hey, Buddy, can you help me out?
I'm hurting here. Please.
It's cold at night
Food doesn't come to me
As mcu as it once did
Give an old man a hand up, Hoss."
He was the kind I normally walk by
UncaringUnfeeling Unseeing
Only to wonder later
Had someone spoken at all
Disgracefully attired
With clothes filthy, tattered, and torn
Shoes- holes, mud, barely there
His hat was full of grease and faded
Covering knotted, matted, dirt-caked hair
Thew gloves that laughingly covered his hands
Allowed two fingers their freedom
With his palm peeking through
The broken threads of cloth
A jacket was draped over his shoulders
If a jacket it realy was
Thin Ripped Useless
It caused me to come short
As I began to walk by
A patch on the sleeve
Faded almost to monochrome
A bird on a circle with an arrow
Pierced through this mottled fog
I call a brain
"Tell me, Sir," I heard myself say
"Could somewhere under this filth and stain
Lie the heart of a warrior born?"
He looked at me with weary eyes
Ancient and ageless
Understanding the universe
More completely than one as myself
"Well, Son," he said
Voice thick with age
"As you know where I've been
Pull up a crate and I'll tell you who I am."
We repaired to the comfort
Of a restaurant nearby
Paynig for his story the only way I could
We got disapproving looks
The longer we sat
Those of the beautiful people
Better than me
Not willing to notice him
As the waitress cleared our things
He took his first orgasmic taste
Of the coffee sat before him
Then he sat back, lit a Winston
Blew the smoke
"3-4, Echo, that was my brand
When my country sent me to fight
My sister called me a killer
My wife spit on me and left
Hte man who sent me hated my being
My Daddy just stayed away
Me? I took to the streets
To live among those throwaways
Who really understood
No one wants us or wants to know."
We left there, our meal done
Our conversation at an end.
"Please, Sir, as a Brother,
2-5 Lima for me
Allow me to give you the warmth of a night
A bed to keep you safe tonight."
As I went to sleep that night
Safe with myself
My deed of good complete
I thought about the man
Who thirty feet from me lay
Of the graces given me
That I did not meet a similar fate
Upon awaking the next day
I found my Brother asleep
With the rest that one does not awaken from.
He had been called to his final posting
His final hours safe and warm
He did not die alone
As they carried him out of my house
And into his final bed
I vowed to recall his final words
As he lied down to sleep.
"Thank you, My Brother,
For all of us forgotten
Semper Fi"

What would you attempt to do...if you knew you could not fail?
http://www.hubpages.com/profile/RingoShort

© Copyright 2009 Bradly Stott - All Rights Reserved
SEA
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with you
1 posted 2009-02-26 03:01 PM


my goodness, a warning would be good!

you brought tears to my eyes.



more people should care...

Alison
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Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
2 posted 2009-05-19 01:57 AM


Ringo,

I read this when you posted it and thought I had responded.  Maybe it was meant to be that I return to it so much later and bring it back.  

Well done.

Alison

Billie Cullimore
Member
since 2009-03-27
Posts 315

3 posted 2009-05-19 02:40 AM


Your poem brought tears to my heart as well as my eyes.  My son was a Marene in Veat-Nam,  Enough said.  No he did not end up in the streets he was our hero.  We know where he lies.
Billie C.

Alison
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Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
4 posted 2009-05-19 02:50 AM


Billie,

I am so sorry to read about your son.  Thank you for sharing a piece of your heart with us.

Alison

Ringo
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Saluting with misty eyes
5 posted 2009-05-19 04:44 PM


Alison... thank you for bringing this back.... it espeically means much to me as I am in the final strages of planning for an event to help Pizza For Patriots (http://www.pizzaforpatriots.com)

Billie- I feel sadness for your loss, and salute your family for having someone with the courage to do what was unpopular and for giving his last measure.
Semper Fi.

But this one goes to eleven...
http://www.hubpages.com/profile/RingoShort

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