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One More Night (poem)

By David Sandgrund

Finally the battle ends
Last week all light and noise
Tonight a night like before; dark, quiet

I sit now in silence, troubled
Thinking of life, full of danger,
That echoed off the walls

Remembering the keys of the teletype
Clicking with fury, announcing
The beginning of the Tet Offensive

From my window the sky lit,
As never before, all reds and yellows
The hooch shaking with noiseless vibration

The Star Spangled Banner sprang to mind
Rockets red glare
Bombs bursting air

The teletype clacking again
A classified message requiring
Immediate action, off to HQ

Scurrying across the compound
Rockets, mortars exploding
Outside the compound

Arriving at HQ, greeted by the Duty Officer
No flight out of Ton Sun Nhut
Should be leaving in two days, guess not

Retuning across the compound
Under bright lights of flares
And a rain of tracers

Arriving to the relative safety
Of my hooch, my home
Those past peaceful 11 months

Home again
There are those nights
When darkness is blinding
Now the echo can be heard
Just a memory... the room is silent

Shit; I was scared

— David Sandgrund