MY BUDDIES IN ARMS




By Dennis Gardner

My buddies in arms
So valiantly you fought.
So bravely you wore your armor.
You left me without a sound,
And I look for you, but you're gone.
You were so young, and you were here for such a short time.
Even now the whisper of your life haunts me,
And I walk through time as a shallow, sometimes empty man.

I've grown older, but my presence is not present.
It is with you my friend who died so long ago
With a gasp and eyes rolled back.
So why can't I feel?
Because my presence is not present.
My presence is with you.
You left me, and I never got to say good-bye
To my friend, my comrade in arms.
I'm searching, searching for you.
Let me touch the Wall where your name is,
And recall the face and the voice with a silly grin.
Let me reach out to touch you,
Instead of a black granite slab.
I'm searching for you, and searching for me.

Dennis Gardner (USMC - Vietnam 1969)
© 2002



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