War Poetry

Semper Fi

My father met Eleanor Roosevelt in 1945.
The war at last was over then and they were still alive.
Her husband was the president 'til he ran out of time.
Her Franklin D was history. They'd put him on the dime.

My father joined the leathernecks to stay out of the mines.
The new marine was just fifteen in 1939.
There were medals and malaria, the South Pacific war,
Through jungles that were paradise and were paradise no more.

Soldiers fight and soldiers die.
Soldiers live to wonder why.
Semper fi fee fo fum,
Look out peacetime, here we come.

Some of the men who did survive were not the lucky ones.
War is only good for those who make and sell the guns.
My father lay recovering. The hurt was all inside.
Sometimes the wounds that never heal are easiest to hide.

When Eleanor came bearing gifts to San Francisco Bay,
She gave my dad a blanket in the hospital that day.
That blanket meant a lot to him. My mother has it still.
Some forget the kindnesses that others never will.

Soldiers fight and soldiers die.
Soldiers live to wonder why.
Semper fi fee fo fum,
Look out peacetime, here we come.

by John Gorka

http://youtu.be/TPGXC0xmAhg