As the River Flows and The Goats of War (Poetry and Notes on War)

1) The Goats of War

We are all of us, dirty
None innocent
All alike—war has
Rolled over us like a train
In High gear—:
Blood, boots, bombs
And sharp metal:
A crude lifestyle
We never seem to get
Tired of…
The emphatically brave—
Come home to the
Bitterly saved…
Trying to figure out
What the purpose was
With pitiful eyes;
And then they bite
Their lips, ready
To fight again…
Who can ever understand?
The gut of a man!

#861 9/20/05

Note by the Author: I fought in Vietnam, and like many soldiers believed in what I was fighting for, or was supposed to be fighting for. I went because of the adventure also. There are options besides going to war, for the soldier for the one sending them. It was sad in the sense, us young boy back then believed more in what we were doing than the ones that sent us there. I do hope we send our boys back home from Iraq. I don't know if it is all worth it or not, I'm just an old worn out sergeant now. But it seems to me, the guts are still in our men, like they were in me (we have the bravest of all the soldiers in the world); but the folks doing the sending have lost insight for hindsight (perception after the fact), and that is a damn shame.

2) As the River Flows

Life is like a river
It flows and it flows,
Never to return—
The same drop of water T
o the same spot;

And so

…like the drop of water
I must move on—and
…off! Off this platform—;
Let life flow, flow—oo…
Like the river—

to
Whoever knows where….
According to the plan!
For we are simply—
Part of the flow—
And that will have to do!

#456 [1/19/05/reviesed 11/2005]

Inspired after meeting the poet, Donald Hall for his wife had died, and he grieved dearly; and in memory of the author's mother, Elsie T. Siluk, for he had grieved dearly at the time also, and so there seemed to be a connection when he wrote this poem; for Dennis' mother’s way of thinking was as the poem reads: let life flow. Rosa