<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">How many more names must we add to those lists of names at the base of the war memorial statue in East City Park?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; ">------------------------------------</span></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The Wall Within" by Steve Mason.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most real men</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">hanging</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in their early forties</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">would like the rest of us to think</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">they could handle one more war</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and two more women.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But I know better.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You have no more lies to tell.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s3" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have no more dreams to believe.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have seen it in your face</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am sure you have noticed it</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in mine;</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">at the unutterable,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">unalterable truth of our war.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The eye sees</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">what the mind believes.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And all that I know of war,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">all that I have heard of peace,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">has me looking over my shoulder</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for that one bullet</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">which still has my name on it--</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">circling</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">round and round the globe</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">waiting and circling</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">circling and waiting</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">until I break from cover</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and it takes its best, last shot.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the absence of Time, the accuracy of guilt is assured.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is a cosmic marksman.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since Vietnam,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have run a zigzag course</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">across the open fields of America</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">taking refuge in the inner cities.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From Mac Arthur Park</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to Washington Square</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">from Centennial Park</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to DuPont Circle,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on the grassy, urban knolls of America</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have seen an army of combat veterans</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">hidden among the trees..</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Veterans of all our recent wars.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Each a part of the best of his generation.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Waiting in his teeth for peace.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They do not lurk there</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on the backs of park benches</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">drooling into their socks</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">above the remote, turtled back of chess player playing soldiers.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They do not perch upon the gutter's lip</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of midnight fountains</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and noontime wishing wells</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">like surrealistic gargoyles</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">guarding the coins and simple wishes</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of young lovers.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I have seen them in the quiet dignity</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of their aloneness.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Singly, in the confidence</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of their own perspective.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And always at the edges of the clearing.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Patrolling like perimeter guards,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">or observing as primitive gods,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">each in his own way looks out to the park</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">that he might "see" in to the truth.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">...Some, like me</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">enjoy the comfortable base</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of a friendly tree</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">that we might cock one eye</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to the center of the park</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">toward the rearing bronze horsemen</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of other wars</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">who would lead us backwards to glory.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Daily, they are fragged</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">by a platoon of disgruntled pigeons</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">saying it best for all of us.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And with the other eye,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we read the poetry of America the Beautiful</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">as she combs her midday hair</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and eats precise shrimp sandwiches</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and salad Nicoise catered by Tupperware--</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and never leaves a single crumb.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s4">No wonder America</span><span class="s4"> is the only country</span></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in the world which doesn't smell like food.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">...and I remember you and me</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">picnicking at the side</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the rain</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">eating the Limas and Ham from the can</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">sitting easy in our youth and our strength</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">driving hard bargains with each other</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for the C-ration goodies</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we unwrapped like Christmas presents.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Somehow it really seemed to matter</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">what he got versus what you got.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It wasn't easy trading cheese and crackers</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for chocolate-covered peanut butter cookies!</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And the pound cake--Forget about it!</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I knew a guy would cut a hole in it</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and pretend it was a doughnut.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For six months I watched that</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and refused to ask him about it.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I did finally. And you guessed it.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He hated pound cake.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And remember the water biscuit</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">that came in its own tin?--</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I think they had the moxie to call it a cookie--</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it came with the marmalade</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and was made by that outfit in Chicago</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we promised to burn to the ground someday.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Damn, how did your buddy, the animal,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ever eat that crap?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, we'd happily wash down the whole mess</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">with freckly-faced strawberry Kool-Aid</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">straight from the canteen</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">some days there'd be goofy grape</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(anything to keep from choking</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on the taste of purified water).</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s4">Bleck!</span><span class="s4"></span></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But somehow I sensed all the while</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">that I'd never be able to forgive myself</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for enjoying your company so much</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">or being so good at the game we played.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We were the best--you and I.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In our parks</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">there are whole other armies of veterans</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">mostly young and mostly old</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">but always ageless</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">who are not alone.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They share with their families</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and their friends</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">these open-aired</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">above-ground time capsules</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of our national culture.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They read aloud to themselves</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and their children</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">from the plaques and statues</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">monuments and markers</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">those one-line truths</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of our common experience</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">as if there could be a real significance</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in words like Love and Hate tatooed</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on the clenched, granite fists of America.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sometimes, when I am angry</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it seems as if I could start my own country</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">with the same twenty Spill and Spell words</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we shake out at the feet of our heroes</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">like some crone spreading her hands</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">over the runes prior to a mystic reading.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Words like:</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">peace and sacrifice, war and young</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">supreme and duty, service and honor</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">country, nation, men and men and men again,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">sometimes God and don't forget women!</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Army Air Force, Navy, Marines and freedom.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, just as quickly, the anger passes</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and reverence takes its place.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Those are good words, noble words, solemn</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s4">and</span><span class="s4"> sincere.</span></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is the language of Death</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">which frightens me;</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it is unearthly to speak life concepts</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">over the dead.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Death is inarticulately final</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">refusing forever to negotiate.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That, and the awesome responsibility</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we place eternally on our fallen</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">teenage sons,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">seems unbearably heavy</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">against the lengthening prancing</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s4">shadows of Sunday's frisbee</span><span class="s4">s.</span></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Apparently, there is no period</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">which can be placed after sacrifice.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All life is struggle.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">an act of natural balance</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and indomitable courage.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As it is with man</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">so it is with mankind.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If we permit Memorial Day</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to come to us every day,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we ignore the concept of sacrifice</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and dilute its purpose.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When we do that</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we incur the responsibility</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to effect change.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If we are successful,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">the sacrifice has renewed meaning</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It seems there is no alternative to life.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But there may be to war...</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The values of our society</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">seem to be distributed in our parks</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and find only confusion and sadness.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Strange, I have observed no monuments</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to survivors.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No obelisk to mark the conflict</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of those who risked</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and lived perhaps to fight again</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">or perhaps to speak of peace.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nowhere, yet, a wall for the living.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There is no wonder</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">guilt is the sole survivor of war.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We do not celebrate like after combat</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">because our concept of glory</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">lives neither in victory nor in peace</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">but in Death.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The are plaques at the doorsteps</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of skyscrapers;</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in New York on the 10th and the Avenue</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of the Americas it reads:</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">IN MEMORY OF THOSE</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">FROM </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">GREENWICH VILLAGE</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">IN THE KOREAN CONFLICT</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s4">1950-19</span><span class="s4">53</span></span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="s4"><br></span></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Nashville's Centennial Park</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in a shaded wood</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to one side of the Partheon</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">built to scale and to the glory</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">which was Greece,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">a small statue stands;</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it is inscribed:</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I GAVE MY BEST</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">TO MAKE A BETTER WORLD</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1917-1918</span></p><p class="s5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I stood there on fall</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ankle deep in leaves</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and looked up at the night sky</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">through a hole in a ceiling of trees</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">wondering how much better the world</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">might look from up there.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From the moon</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">only one manmade object</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">can be viewed by the naked eye:</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Great Wall of China</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(a tribute to man's functional paranoia).</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It's a peculiar perspective</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">because we're a lot closer</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and the only manmade object we see</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">is THE Wall in Washington, D.C.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(the veterans' solemn pledge to remember)</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There is one other wall, of course.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One we never speak of.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One we never see,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One which separates memory from madness.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a place no one offers flowers.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">THE WALL WITHIN.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We permit no visitors.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mine looks like any of a million</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">nameless, brick walls--</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it stands in the tear-down ghetto of my soul;</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">that part of me which reason avoids</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for fear of dirtying its cloths</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and from atop which my sorrow and my rage</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">hurl bottles and invectives</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">at the rolled-up windows</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of my passing youth.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Do you know the wall I mean?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I learned of mine that night in the rain</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">when I spoke at the memorial in Washington.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We all noticed how the wall ran like tears</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and every man's name we found</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on the polished, black granite face</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">seemed to have our eyes staring back at us,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">crying.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was haunting.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">later I would realize</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I had caught my first glimpse</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of the Wall Within.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And those tears were real.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You and I do not walk about the Wall Within</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">like Hamlet on the battlements.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No one with our savvy</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">would expose himself like that</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">especially to a frightened, angry man.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Suicide loiters in our subconscious</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and bears a grudge; an assassin</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on hashish. We must be wary.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No. We sit there legless in our immobility</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">rolling precariously in our self-pity</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">like ugly Humpty Dumpties</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">with disdain even for the king's horses</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">as we lean over the ledge to write</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">upside down with chalk, bleached white</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">with our truth</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">the names of all the other casualties</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">of the Vietnam War</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(our loved one)</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">the ones Pentagon didn't put in uniform</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">but died anyway.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some because they stopped being who</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">they always were</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">just as truly as if they'd found</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">another way to breathe.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Others, because they did die</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">honest-to-God casualties of the</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Vietnam War</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">because they lost the will</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to breathe at all.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My mother gave her first recital</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">at Carnagie Hall at age eleven.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sometimes, when I was a boy</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I'd watch her play the piano</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and wonder if, God, after all, was not a woman.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One evening when I was in the bush</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">she turned on the 6:00 news</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">and died of a heart attack.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My mother's name is on the Wall Within.</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">You starting to get the idea?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our lists may be different</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">but shoulder to shoulder</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">if we could find the right flat cloud</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">on a perfect, black night</span></p></div><div><span class="s4"><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">we could project our images</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">upon a god-size drive-in theatre</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">wide enough to race Ben Hur across</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">for a thousand years...</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Because the Wall Within</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">adds up the true cost of war...</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We can recite 58,012 in our sleep</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">even the day after they update it,</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">but how many of those KIA had kids?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">How many of them got nice step-dads?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Whose wall do they go on?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And what about you vets</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">who came home to your wife and kids</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">only to divorce her because</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">there wasn't anyone to be angry at?</span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p class="s2" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">------------------------------------</span></p><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "> </div></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><div>Seeya at the polls, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares"</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."</div><div><br></div><div>- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)</div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>