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Stand To (poem)By Rick HarriengerStand to, but whispered, stand to When every sense was brought to bear We stretched to know the morning's air Adrenaline...beyond beware... Nerves not strong were shattered Stand to. Selector switch caressed like braille each tick of time a separate tale. We willed the dawn to no avail; and nothing, nothing mattered Stand to. When in the silence breathing's loud cursing exhalations cloud; should war erupt would dad be proud? Will I survive the latter? Stand to. Altho the curse of morning's rain when every sense is stretched and strained the clicker of the sentry's plain... Or was that Charlie's clacker? Stand to. For all of those who've left us now It's we who show the others how the subtleties of surviving now that's all that really matters. Stand Down We opened "c's" so quietly while digging foxholes frantically and saddled up the nights O.P.s The silence growing fatter. Stand down. Weary from the mountain climb the commo check go's down the line; a letter read a final time the mist as thick as batter. Stand down. Fatigue that few have ever known weariness of every bone the single thought...to make it home the luxury of water! Stand down. The mud that kept mosquitoes off the blessed ground that's almost soft the drone of casper high aloft no doubt which side I'd rather. Stand down. Squad by squad we're dusted off back to beds with pillows soft a chance to grieve the ones we'd lost and trounce the whores who flatter. Stand down again stand down. Bring solace to each other Take an honest look around and see where each of us is bound. Let not our lot be six feet down I'm begging you my brother. Stand Round We've come too far to die in vain, despite our anguish and our pain Count not your loss; instead your gain and doubt and fear will scatter. —Rick Harrienger
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