In grad school behind a wall
of books, sealed into the words
of Poe, Stevens, Hemingway
Faulkner, Salinger, Albee.
Dominoes fall
and Goliath lies,
claims a David
from Viet Nam
dared sling a torpedo
at one of our ships.
We attack Communism
and those fierce, small,
black-clad people
as if our economy
depended on it.
In love with Lydia, a young nurse,
fingers as gentle
on my body and soul
as her patient hands on the dying.
That was our life.
I dropped out of school,
buried my love of books,
chose a love of marching.
Lydia nursed us through protests
to foment a revolution
that had no more chance
than our nation could keep
from shooting missiles
at foreign lands.
Once again the world is at war,
this time another Goliath
against another David,
its own brother
as Russia attacks Ukraine.
The bombs fall and people flee
just as they did so long ago.
This is our life again.
Originally published in The Bezine