Remember Our POW/MIA
Poetry Written By and For Veterans
          Poetry Written By and For Veterans





          ~ THE PRICE OF OUR FLAG ~

          WHAT IS THE PRICE OF THE FLAG? \\$10.00
          YOU SAY. NOT IN MY TIME AND DAY.
          THEY PAID FOR THE FLAG WITH THEIR
          LIFE AND THEIR BLOOD. BY FIGHTING IN
          THE RAIN AND THE MUD. THE RED IS THE
          BLOOD THAT THEY SHED.THE WHITE IS
          PURITY AND INNOCENCE,BECAUSE THEY
          BELIEVED WHAT THEY WERE DOING WAS
          JUST AND RIGHT. THE BLUE IS FOR
          PERSEVERANCE AND JUSTICE.
          SOME PEOPLE TREAT THE FLAG IN A
          SHAMEFUL WAY, THEY BURN IT AND
          DEGRADE IT EVERY DAY.
          THEN THEY SAY, I CAN DO WHAT I WANT,
          AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO OR SAY.
          WE ARE NOW GOING TO LET THEM KNOW
          THE PRICE OUR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN
          HAD TO PAY. WE WILL NOT TELL THEM
          JUST ONCE. WE WILL TELL THEM EVERYDAY.
          MAYBE THEN THEY WILL TREAT THE FLAG IN
          THE PROPER WAY. BUT IF THEY DON'T THEY
          WILL LEARN THAT THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY.


          AL LANG
          1/27/99




          ~ THEY'RE NOT JUST A NAME ON A WALL ~

          THEY MAY BE A FATHER, SON, OR BROTHER.
          THEY MAY BE ONE OR THEY MAY BE ALL.
          THEY'RE NOT JUST A NAME ON A WALL.
          THEY SAVED THEIR COUNTRY, AND DID
          THEIR BEST. THEY PAID THE HIGHEST PRICE
          AND WERE LAID TO REST.
          THEY'RE NOT JUST A NAME ON A WALL.
          THEY WERE FROM THE NORTH, SOUTH, EAST,
          AND THE WEST.
          THEY'RE KNOWN AS AMERICA'S BEST.
          ONE BY ONE THEY WENT TO FIGHT, AND ONE
          BY ONE THEY BEGAN TO FALL.
          BUT LET US NOT FORGET THEY'RE NOT JUST
          A NAME ON A WALL.
          THEY WERE THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE, AND
          BECAUSE OF THAT THEIR FAMILIES CAN ALL
          STAND TALL, KNOWING .
          THEY'RE NOT JUST A NAME ON A WALL.

          AL LANG
          COPYRIGHT ~ 1998




          DO YOU UNDERSTAND..........?

          There I was in Vietnam,
          This God forsaken land.
          This is where time would stop
          For over here there was no use for a clock.

          There was only one way you lived here,
          That was day to day in a lot of fear.
          you could stay up for two or three days,
          What else can I say.

          Some of your friends went home early,
          It sure was a shame for Ed and Hurley.
          For we were young and had god minds,
          We were fighting for this, our behinds.

          All of us done our jobs,
          And I think a lot of us were robbed.
          Some of us were hurt and did not say,
          For we seen guys that would not see another day.

          You had to be smart in this land that time forgot,
          For you had to be cold, mean, and have no heart.
          You shot your gun and you had your fun,
          And hoped you would see another sun.

          Thirteen months was the time you spent,
          If you were lucky and did not get spent.
          It didn't take you long to catch on,
          For if you didn't you lost your dong.

          We did not fight the V.C. you see,
          We fought Zappers and N.V.A.
          They were good with their firecrackers at night,
          But we blowed the shit out of them on sight.

          So then we come home to our people to stay,
          But most of us thought we were a stray.
          Everybody saiad what we did was wrong,
          But it was not us that banged the gong.

          It was the president and his clan,
          That sent us to this dirty land.
          I remember Dickey, Frank and Tom,
          Two of them were killed by bombs.

          But it means nothing to these people back here,
          They sat in the taverns safely and drank their beer.
          A lot of us were only nighteen when we returned,
          And most of us did not know where to turn.

          We did not understand what we had done,
          For now our lives had just begun.
          We watched the shit on T.V. and in the street,
          For now the people we were with we had to beat.

          We had fought one war and now there was two,
          The American people were split in too.
          You did not tell anyone you were in Vietnam,
          They did not want to be around you.

          A lot of us thought we were fighting for our people and our land,
          But nobody just give a danm.
          So most of us just built a wall,
          And we still stand proud and tall.

          It's been twenty nine years since I was there,
          But it's still like I was there yesterday.
          A guy once told me you would never forget,
          For all of us being a Vietnam Vet.

          They said this was not a war,
          It was just a country store.
          Our people called us names and gave us the bird,
          And said"we were nothing but a bunch of turds".

          A lot of us lived, but are still dying inside,
          Even though we never got hurt by the shit that was flying.
          Everybody I meet tells me I'm crazy,
          But to me things still kind of look hazy.

          Sometimes I'm here, and sometimes I'm there,
          Trying to live down the things I must bare.
          I know what I done, and thats what I did,
          For when I was there, I was just a kid.

          But, I still love the people of this land,
          Because when I came home, I was and old man.
          I wake up every day and look at the sun,
          And now I'm home, and this is where my life had begun.

          I really do not know what to do,
          I have tried so hard to see the full view.
          I am going so fast, I feel like a top,
          Sometimes I wish my mind would just stop.

          It seems like no one wants me around in this town,
          So I keep my mouth shut and don't make a sound.
          Sometimes I wish I was with the few that had fallen,
          Because sometime I can here my God a callen.

          But as day's go by and by,
          I know I must live until I die.
          For now I'm to old to change my ways,
          For all I look forward to are sunny day's.

          For here I am still trying to adjust,
          But there's no one in this world I can trust.
          For when they find out I was there,
          A new battle begins and it's not fair.

          When will they understand that I am just a man,
          Who loves life as it began.
          I went down a road that was different for a year,
          But I am no different than the people that sat home and watched T.V. and drank their beer.

          For when this battle is going to end,
          My mind tells me, I know not when.
          Probably never as so I've been told,
          So I think what I'll do is just grow old.

          Written by Tim White
          1989




          THE FALLEN

          There once was a girl named Maya Ying Lin,
          Who didn't know what she was going to begin.
          She knew nothing of the wall she would design,
          But only to realize what she would do in time.

          This war went on for eighteen years,
          And all it did was lead a trail of tears.
          This wall was made of black,
          So all the sacrifices made would not lack.

          With your ribbons and a quarter,
          You could get a cup of coffee from a porter.
          For we all went when we were called,
          And a lot of American young men and women would fall.

          But they would not call this a war,
          It was just an open door.
          All it was, was a rich man's folly.
          But I'll tell you what, a lot of men and women did not get their jolly's.

          A lot of young men went east,
          A lot of young men went west.
          The men that went to the north,
          Maybe it was because they could not bear the cross.

          Our leaders let us fight in vain,
          But in this war their was no shame.
          For a long time we had nowhere to go,
          Neither did the guys that went where it snowed.

          All of us used our given names,
          We did not have to hide in shame.
          We went and did not complain,
          And the government brought us home in a aeroplane.

          So what did we get when we got home,
          Not even a pat on the back, or a hand shake.
          The american people blamed the soldiers,
          Not the ones that started the war.

          We went and died in a political game,
          And now the government denies the blame.
          The government can do nothing but deny,
          For all the young men and women that had to die.

          We are no differant form the rest,
          For all we tried to do our best.
          But they sprayed us with agent orange,
          now they say our symptoms began when we were born.

          The government sends the money overseas,
          But all they do is study the agent orang disease.
          When we are all dead and gone,
          The government will admit they were wrong.

          So I guess we can say we done our best,
          But I will not let my children meet the test.
          If they want to start another war,
          We will let the politicians to the front and settle the score.

          For if they had to go to a place like that,
          They would say,"I would not go back".
          I bet they would all be on some dope,
          For now they think this was all a joke.

          I hope they never make this mistake again,
          Because they know not what they do to these young men and women.
          These wars that go on must stop,
          For they are all in not.

          Tim White




          ~ P.O.W. AND M.I.A ~

          WE NEED TO REMEMBER THEM EVERYDAY.
          THEY WENT TO FIGHT IN A PLACE SO FAR AWAY.
          THEY GAVE THEIR ALL WHEN THEIR COUNTRY SENT OUT A CALL.
          NOT EVER KNOWN THAT THEIR NAME WOULD END UP ON THE WALL.
          NO MATTER HOW WE HONOR THEM, NO MATTER WHAT WE DO.
          WE SHOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER, THAT THEY PAID THE HIGHEST PRICE FOR THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE.
          SO WHEN YOU LOOK UP AT THE FLAG FLYING IN THE WIND ON A CLEAR BLUE DAY,
          REMEMBER IT'S THERE BECAUSE OF THE P.O.W. AND M.I.A,

          COPYRIGHT BY
          AL LANG




          Poets Note:

          When We Were Kids, We All Loved Parades, Memorial Day,
          4Th. Of July, Veterans Day, Oh Yes....Can't Forget Christmas.....
          We'd decorate Our bikes....Proudly Ride Along.....
          Trying To be A Part Of It All....
          Part Of The Marching Bands, Part Of The Soilders From The VFW Marching Proudly Along The Streets Of Our Hometown....
          The Towns May Be Different, But The Parades Are All The Same.....
          Hometown America......

          ~ One Of Ours ~

          What started as a 2 year tour of duty,
          Turned out to be a life sentence.
          We fought and died to make a difference
          We fought and died for the land we loved..
          At times I could feel America listening.
          At times I could see she did forget.
          It wont be enough to wear buttons,
          it wont be enough to fly flags.....
          The important thing is to

          ...................... REMEMBER ......................

          I believe that it is this world's most
          brave champions who dream of peace.
          And our country's truest sons who must live for it.
          Therefore, not this Memorial Day, Or the next, Or the one after that,
          Will men and women of my heart find peace,
          In a ceremony honoring the dead.

          (We cherish them best who gave it all
          by dedicating our lives to the living.)

          For peace, if such exists, comes only to the warrior.
          The veteran, is of other matter.
          Truth under fire has tempered each veteran of
          Every war from one part warrior and one part human being.
          And for each of Us (long before peace)
          there remains one, much needed promise.
          To be

          ............ REMEMBERED ............

          One, last commitment worthy of a lifetime, as we march in lock-step with veterans of all wars from all nations, for human dignity.
          Then shall we pass in review
          and each will hear
          mankind whisper to the gods,
          "There then, goes one of ours.

          NAM POET






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