Tribute to the Marines at Khe Sanh on this Vererans' Day 2016

Tribute to the Marines at Khe Sanh on this Veterans’ Day 2016

We had no choice

We had no voice

No control over where we were sent

And yet into harm’s way we went

Billions wasted, billions spent

Lives lost, minds ruined, bodies maimed and bent

Only elders voted, only elders spoke

Release the dogs of war, images of glory to evoke

All sense of why and of  caution to revoke

The flags waving, the canons roar to invoke

Release the dogs of war

The body bags to soar

No cheers and no welcome home parades

Only the light at the end of the tunnel charade

Hold Khe Sanh a worthless piece of terrain

Dig deeper to escape the shells falling like monsoon rains

Unlike the French we Marines will beat Nguyen

But like the French this is a war we cannot win

Despite all the Pentagon spin

Will God punish the elders for their sins?

We held Khe Sanh but for us no poems of Flanders Fields

Semper Fi to those who lived, to those who did not yield

To those whose names are etched on a granite wall

A sacred monument in the Washington Mall

Come close, come near

Put next to it your ear

Through the granite you will hear

The voices, do not hold back your tears

We had no voice

We had no choice

But we answered the call

Instead of poppies in a field we remain etched forever on this granite

© November 7, 2016, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet 

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