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Ratleader

Member Rara Avis

since 2003-01-23

Posts 7026
Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass

0 posted 2004-11-10 07:12 PM

I entered this as a challenge poem,
thinking this a good day for
remembrance.....Hope to see many
on this particular holiday.

Old Friends

He won’t talk, turns questions aside
with no more than some neutral story
about base life, that I’ve heard before.
I never probe: the only time I tried,
his face held on, rock steady, but
his eyes begged, “Please, not this.”

I know this much only now for certain,
that he held a rank but didn’t like it,
tried to give no orders that would kill,
kept a friend he had survived with,
who had run the radio on long flights
over darkness and God knew what.

It was a hobby shop that got him.
Just walking through one afternoon,
hunting daydreams, buying batteries,
spending time we both had to share,
mostly being men together in the way
dads and sons so seldom get to be.

Trains and rockets, big and little cars,
bright grownup toys for children,
children’s toys for grown-up men.
Overhead the models, all to scale,
wings, propellers perfect, even girlfriends
nose-painted where they would have been.

Slowly, a tear he refused to acknowledge
and a look of distance I had never seen;
the years lifting, crashing back too heavy
as he saw me notice he’d gone lost.
A shy memory smile drawn in, then
“Old friends,” was all he could say.

Catrina
Member

since 2004-11-10

Posts 132

1 posted 2004-11-10 07:19 PM

"crashing back too heavy"
Yes, it is just like that.

myheart
Member

since 2004-11-05

Posts 160
lost in your eyes

2 posted 2004-11-10 07:30 PM

this is wonderful. well done indeed.

~myheart~

Love is the poetry of the senses. ~Honoré de Balzac

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

3 posted 2004-11-10 09:01 PM

A very sensitive portrait, dear friend.

suthern

Member Seraphic

since 1999-07-29

Posts 20723
Louisiana

4 posted 2004-11-10 10:11 PM

It is rare when a remembrance truly does justice to our veterans... for we owe them so much. This, my friend, is one of those rarities... so poignant... so touching... repeated in variations through generations... regardless of the war, some memories can't be spoken.

Such a beautiful, excellent poem... I can only thank you... and applaud through tears. *S*

wranx
Member Elite

since 2002-06-07

Posts 3689
Moved from a shack to a barn

5 posted 2004-11-10 11:00 PM

Damn dude...This is as good a poem as I've read anywhere.

Great great read, m'friend!

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-16

Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

6 posted 2004-11-10 11:39 PM

Very nice...James

Copperbell
Senior Member

since 2003-11-08

Posts 956

7 posted 2004-11-11 10:35 AM

wonderful poem - thanks for sharing the story

Gentle Spirit
Member Patricius

since 2000-10-09

Posts 13989

8 posted 2004-11-11 10:40 AM

sensitive and poignant writing....tugging heartstrings..
well done Ed...

The greatest beauty on earth, is
found in the hearts of those
who love....

Cpat Hair

Member Patricius

since 2001-06-05

Posts 11793

9 posted 2004-11-11 10:48 AM

Ed... the humanity and the reality of those who were there.. is fast fading.. my own father stationed in the Pacific as an infantry, then in the MP's who occupied Japan.. never said a word...

thank for capturing a bit of it here... and for reminding me

Magnus

Member Laureate

since 2001-10-10

Posts 14135
South Carolina, USA

10 posted 2004-11-11 10:54 AM

I am not ashamed to say I cried as I read
this...because it reminds me too well of my
own moments with my Dad, just before he
died...when he finally started talking about
the single most significant thing that
he experienced in his life...before my birth.

Thanx Ed... muchly.

Marge Tindal