Transition 

                        Sunset lit up the sky with wondrous reds and oranges
                        Gradually muting to purples and grays
                        The men moved around, preparing for the nightly onslaught
                        Soon, the beauty of that sunset would be replaced with
                        The horrors of the war.

                        Death, carnage and debris would litter this potentially
                        Fruitful land ... and for what?
                        An idealistic belief that one way was better than another?
                        They called it different names.
                        Police action, political support, etc.
                        Only those who knew called it the truth.

                        Day after day
                        New boys arriving to replace those taken much too soon
                        Or those who had made It through their "Tour of Duty"
                        In one piece
                        Or those who would never walk normally again, never be able
                        To know the joys of being a parent

                        To return to their homeland
                        Only to suffer the indignity of being spit on
                        Or called baby killers.
                        To find no jobs available to support their families
                        And no support from the government who sent them
                        To that foreign land.

                        The friends we made, and lost.
                        The pieces we retrieved of those who served
                        The innocent who were caught in the middle
                        And those who were anything but innocent 


                        by Contributing Poet  Sananda Allsgood   Copyright © 2015 
                        ​VWP 2015     First published in  VietnamWarPoetry.com 

​​                        ​Bio:  Sananda Allsgood   -   [ no biographical information provided ]