Walk the Walk

By: Jim Kitchens

I talk the talk, and I've walked the walk,
I've live in Hell, for a while,
I've been to war, have you?
I talked the talk, and I've earned the right, to walk the walk.

I've seen the jungle, from ten thousand feet,
I've climbed a mountain, from where the sea retreats,
I've heard a ship scream as her guts were boiled out,
I've seen proud men fall, to raise ne'er again,
There's blood on my hands, but not from my sins.

When the call came, I didn't retreat,
I never looked North, for a way to get out,
But I thought of you, most every day,
When my ammo ran low, I thought of you,
Prostrate on the rails, doing your do,
Kent State be damned, WHERE WERE YOU?

Love of my Country was never a low,
A conscience that's clear, I fought our foe,
The color's still bright in the Flag you burned,
The White and the Blue ... My Country and home,
The Red, the Blood, the wounds in our souls,
The Stars I counted, each and every one,
As the times that you cursed me, because I had come.

You say you don't love me,
Then call me names, and say that my Country ,
Is who's to blame,
You call it MY Country, and I do so too,
Where is your country, your Red, White and Blue?
You left once, the coward you are,
Don't come back now, to settle the score.

I talk the talk and I walk the walk,
But you haven't earned the right,
To stand with proud men, near the Black Wall,
That mirrors with eyes that search, and souls that look out,
Who can't talk the talk, because they've already "Walked that last Walk."

Jim Kitchens
Brady, Texas USN 1961 - 1966

Dedicated to:
Frank M. Kitchens Jr. 11W17
Harry Moss Kitchens 9E98
Joel Rttyne Kitchens 21W102
Perry Castellan Kitchens 6W37