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Patriotic Poems
War and Tragedy

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Contributor: Gary Jacobson || Poem Categories

Battlefield Perfume country as flag
Each battlefield has its own unique smell
Lingering with pungent perfume to define it well
Hanging in Cimmerian shadow's to forever dwell
Ponderous in dim mists of acrid smoke cankered
With noxious cordite this biting blend stirred
Sweat, gunpowder, and caustic blood merged
Stagnating sweet-and-sour on fractured ground
Abiding still in solemn quiet without a sound
Hov'ring mournfully tart o'er quiet din
Funereal where deadly fighting's been.

Malignant battle stains the land so deeply ingrain
That a thousand rains cannot wash out the pain
That to this day soldier's bind
Slings and arrows suffered in the fevered mind
Dinky dau snatches of memory collect
Forevermore to reflect
Rendered again-and-again recalled in infamy
By those who tell battle's fabled story
Remembering dark melancholy covering the park
With rank perfume bricky dark.

Vietnam's River of Dreams
by Gary Jacobson � September 2010

Young boys by goodness forged
By freedom's principles engorged
Go into war's dark murderous night
Hearts full of nocturnal fright
Dreaming the American Dream could
Save the pernicious world...
Ever grateful that a grateful nation would
Welcome us home with open arms unfurled.

Young princes carried freedom's flickering light
Watching a moon so close it burns the night
Tender boys rushed to do our duty
To spread American democracy
Dreaming mighty dreams
With stripling warriors' teems
Singing songs to make freedom ring
Songs only the courageous sing.

These best and the brightest
Boys' sent to the other side of the world
The cream of reason's morality in us pearled
Floating on perfumed Golden River's ancient
Fostering hearkening times expedient
The brotherhood gave answer obedient
Founded on the rock of richest bounty
Dreams with ethics built on certainty.

Sent far, far away from home
Sent to force the oppressor for sins to atone
Boys bring to people less fortunate our liberty
Trying hard to ignore gruesome reality
Lost in psychedelic current of moonbeams
America's youth with moral fiber seems
Lost in war from beginning of time
Youth vanished in war's crazy quilt rhyme.

Freedoms are born and lost
How great the cost
By such inbred patriotism
With selfless altruism
Colorful rainbows willing to live or die
Gung-ho na�ve life on the line for pie in the sky
Newbie's' poised for life's fragile moment
Don Quixote's sent to fulfill ideal's accomplishment.

Young prince's think in war's ennobling venture
They'll find high adventure
Go forth young princes absorbed in principle
Bred as democracies disciple
Go forth dewy-eyed youth
Valiant with honor in truth
Sent to share their nation's worth
To all citizens of earth.

Go forth boys with moral fiber arming
Their fates earning
Gone with dreams of freedom preserving
To share their All-American dream
Sent to make the world part of our team
Envisioning freedom in democracy for all
Desirous to share with all
Their great vision for all.

Young princes are but romantics
Wielding truth's sword caustic
From a promised land of milk and honey
Building sand castles of fantasy
Enjoined in adventure's great odyssey
To protect and serve beloved democracy
Gone to defend all nations
To share their dream for all creations foundations.
By Gary Jacobson
Copyright 2010
Listed September 6, 2010

About Author... In 1966-67, Gary Jacobson served with B Co 2nd/7th 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam as a combat infantryman and is the recipient of the Purple Heart.

Gary, who resides in Idaho writes stories he hopes are never forgotten, perhaps compelled by a Vietnamese legend that says, "All poets are full of silver threads that rise inside them as the moon grows large." So Gary says he writes because "It is that these silver threads are words poking at me � I must let them out. I must! I write for my brothers who cannot bear to talk of what they've seen and to educate those who haven't the foggiest idea about the effect that the horrors of war have on boys-next-door."

Visit Gary Jacobson's site for more information

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War and Tragedy Poems | Poem Categories