Happy Veteran’s day- Just men
Just men
A Poem by Coyote Poetry
First job in country of Kuwait in 1992. Move the dead frozen bodies from Death Valley.
(I got to Iraq. My first task was to move the frozen dead bodied of Iraqi soldiers
killed at Death valley.)
Listless and cold.
We moved the frozen dead bodies.
Men who were slaughtered by planes at Death Valley.
Air Force sent them to their god and paradise.
Four soldiers doing what we are told.
Working in silence.
My mind opts. out of thinking of the bodies as men.
No-one tried to claim the bodies.
We were told to move the frozen bodies to a larger storage container.
Then it would wait for somewhere to be ship.
Four men discussed the task after.
Joe told me he wanted to pray for them.
He asked me. “Does anyone care about these men?
I told him “somewhere there is a mother and
family who is heartbroken and sad.
They don’t know if these men are alive or dead.”
“Guns and bombs don’t give a shit who they kill.”
Joe forced us to pray.
He asked God to help these poor men on their journey.
He prayed they can go home and find peace.
We sat in silence.
Funny part after we pray for the frozen bodies.
We looked at the containers with different respect and eyes.
We went back to moving the dead.
We put them down with ease and kindness now.
Coyote
January 2009
Happy Veteran’s day John…thank you for service and sharing your writing.
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Thank you for reading and the kind words. I do appreciate.
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I like the compassion that was shown. Peace and Blessings
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We cannot forget. People, in the way of war and the soldiers are just men. Taught war before life. I pray for the end of war. Need leaders to lead with non-violent gathering.
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So True
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