The Morning After Poem by Thomas Thompson

Tuesday, December 11-13,2013

The Morning After - Some 45 Years Later

Tho' always in the back of my mind
Since that time decades ago
When my team briefed me
Of an event soon to be
That hurried me to alert command

Of a large unit moving south
Who they were
Where they were
When they would be at that river
Delaying their passage for hours and hours

A perfect time
If Command would agree this would be a good mission
To commit assets from so far away
To ensure those traveling south
Would not complete their long journey

The approval arrived swiftly
And we redoubled our efforts
The intelligence rock-solid
Time and coordinates locked in
For that perfect storm of bombs water and men

The resting travelers unaware as they drank from the cool river
Penciling a quick note in this unexpected spare time
Telling those loved not to worry
They were OK
Bantering and relaxing on this balmy fall day

As the silver reapers winged in at 400 knots
Arrived exactly on time and unleashed their terrible cargo
From a height so high almost invisible to the naked eye
Iron clad Death falling faster and faster
Till suddenly the jungle and river erupted in mindless noise and destruction

Their mission complete the makers of mayhem quickly headed home
Congratulating each other on a job well done
Those little commie fuckers can't hurt our sons
Fighting and dying on a soil not ours
An unjust war not understood until many years later

While we anxiously awaited in an air conditioned building
Some hundreds of miles away not knowing if the mission successful
Until that first message from savaged men
Flooded the airwaves with hoarse bewildered voices
Full of pain as they screamed for help

For the hundreds and hundreds of those dead dying and maimed
Who but a few moments ago full of laughter love and hope
While those who survived moved slowly amidst the carnage
With soundless ears and eyes full of tears
Searching for wounded who lay with little hope

Next to the cool water now angry red
As we high five'd in jubilation
Our intelligence solid
The mission a success
In a war that had no honor

The horror of that day quickly filed away in my mind's hip pocket
Zippered shut and tightly locked away
As I tried not to think of what was done
To young men barely older than boys
Who could have been my friends

Tommy