WHEN THAT BOND WAS BROKEN BY DEATH,
IT WAS A TRAMATIC EXPERIENCE.

LOOK AT THE TEARS IN THE FACES
OF THE MIDDLE AGED MEN,
STANDING BEFORE A PARTICULAR PANEL OF THE WALL,
STARING AT ONE SPECIAL NAME.

THEY WEEP FOR SOMEONE
WHO WAS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER,
AND SOMEONE WHO HELPED THEM KEEP WATCH,
THROUGH THE DARKEST NIGHTS.

THEY WEEP FOR SOMEONE,
WHO WAS FOR A FEW TERRIBLE MONTHS,
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH FOR THEM.

SOMEONE WHO COULD NEVER BE REPLACED
IN THEIR LIVES, AND NEVER WAS.

MANY COME TO SEE ME, FROM PLACES FAR AND WIDE,
AND MANY COME TO SEE ME, THEIR TEARS THEY CANNOT HIDE;

SOME WILL NOT REMEMBER, AND SOME WILL NOT EVEN KNOW,
THAT MANY WERE CALLED, AND SERVED,
AND SOME CHOSE NOT TO GO;

I AM BUILT OUT OF GRANITE, ALL LONG AND SHINY AND BLACK,
TO HONOR ALL OF THOSE, THAT NEVER DID COME BACK;

MY VISITORS ARE MANY, FROM THE YOUNG TO THE VERY OLD,
AND I LISTEN AS THEY PASS BY,
TO ALL THE STORIES THAT ARE TOLD;

ABOUT A FATHER, A MOTHER, A BROTHER OR A FRIEND,
THE NAMES ARE ALL LOOKED AT,
FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END;

I WATCH THE CURIOUS, AS THEY COME WALKING THROUGH,
AND I WATCH THE VETERANS PRAY,
AS THEY PASS BY AND VIEW;

I WATCH OVER ALL THE NAMES, WITH REVERENCE AND WITH GRACE,
AND I WONDER ABOUT THE MISSING,
THEIR NAMES AND THEIR FACE;

MEMORIALS HONOR THOSE NO LONGER HERE,
AND MEMORIALS ARE FOR THE LIVING,
TO REMEMBER FROM YEAR TO YEAR;

I STAND HERE IN SILENCE, AS SOLEMN AS CAN BE,
I STAND HERE IN SILENCE, FOR EVERYONE TO SEE;

ALL GAVE SOME----AND SOME GAVE ALL,

I STAND HERE IN SILENCE, FOR “I AM THE WALL”;

T. Richard Day
"I AM THE WALL" © 2007
E Mail

Dedicated to:

David Allen Fleskes Aug 23, 1968 --- 47W - Line 41 Daniel Joseph Bermingham Aug 23, 1968 -- 47W - Line 37 Arthur Lloyd Adams Aug 23, 1968 -- 47 W - Line 36