Just Another Day

1. Cars flit by
   Under his open window,
   The noises of early morn
   Rise to his ears,
   And the hills rise in the distance
   In shades of grey.
   

2. He sits up in bed
   And looks across the sill,
   He holds in his hands his head
   To examine the grey hills.
   Yet the hills turn to jungle
   And erupt in napalm
   A distant, too close rumble
   Remind of Vietnam.
   

3. The memories come back
   As pictures in his head
   And obscure his view
   Of the ceiling above the bed.
   

4. A troubled adolescence
   Was drafted into war,
   And the mindless, senseless killing
   Troubled him even more.
   The jungle punji sticks
   The murder in rice fields
   The Viet Gong's nasty tricks
   Were in reality much too real.
   He made what friends he had
   Fighting side by side
   And for him it was much too sad
   To watch them fall and die.
   He was one of the few
   To get out with his life,
   It gave him much to do:
   Fighting now through strife.
   

5. He wakes up again
   And picks up the phone,
   He needs to call a friend
   But he is all alone.
   He steps on the floor
   And grits his teeth in pain,
   He fights his way to the door
   And steps into the rain.
   

6. Years and months and days
   Have come and then gone.
   He fights through the maze
   And thinks they seem too long.
   He wishes that it was all done
   That he could finally be free,
   Black clouds obscure the sun
   And he walks slowly to the tree.
   In his pajamas in the rain,
   His stens are slow and long.
   His soul is released from all the pain
   Yet he has done no wrong.

31 May 1988