Download PDF of this full issue: v16n2.pdf (14 MB)

"For A Brother"

By VVAW

I watched you as we gathered
I saw the pain begin,
Your guarded stance
With shield and lance
A soldier still within.

You wouldn't go in Arlington,
You viewed it from the gate,
It was there you knew
The Marshalls gathered
To reflect and demonstrate,
You chose to lead
Like Back in 'Nam
And how you felt your hate.

You longed to walk among the stones
That haunt you in your sleep,
To kneel in the grass of Arlington
To pause with what war reaps.
To be among your comrades,
To say a secret prayer,
I saw you there that morning,
You wore a thousand-yard stare.
The years have seen some changes
Since Dewey Canyon III
You've mellowed some, but most of all,
It's hate you have set free.
The war remains on battlegrounds
From here to Camh Ran Bay.
And Vietnam Veterans Against the War,
Will always be there to say:
No More War, Upon this earth,
No Contra aid supplied,
To question as is needed,
To find the hidden lie.
To question as is needed,
Until the day we die.

Jim Wachtendonk
VVAW Madison