Where Have They Gone?

They drifted back one at a time,
into the World.
No music, no drums and
no flags unfurled.

Most tried to leave
their ghosts in Country.
Some will live with the sights
and sounds of war until the end of time.

Some will never return,
but in our hearts they will
always live in rhyme.

Many will be remembered
until time stands still,
on that black granite wall.

They changed their uniforms
for civvies and tried to start
their lives over with a new call.

Some became lawyers
Some became Policemen
Some became Doctors
Some became Nurses
Some became Truck drivers
Some became Business men
Some became Men of God
Some became Farmers
Some just couldn’t stand the pain
But most managed to sustain.

And all will be eternal brothers
in a faraway time and place called:

The Vietnam War.

Jackie R. Kays
Copyright...2001

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Where Have They Gone?

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