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Albert Powers Poem
AIR FORCE
There were those times
On long missions over Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin
When a weariness settled over us
Over pilot and navigator and crew
Settled on us like a resigned acceptance
Like the letting go before sleep arrives
Our shoulders sagged
And our voices became hoarse
It was as if we were entering another dimension
Where worry was not a concern.
And then over the radio came the voice of an F105 pilot
On a bombing run over Hanoi
Whose voice sounded the weariest of all
MAYDAY! He called out on emergency frequency
My plane's been hit and I'm bailing out
As if he realized at that moment
That his life hung on more than his parachute
On more than a missing man formation.
Copyright © Albert Powers | Year Posted 2015
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Albert Powers Poem
DA NANG, 1968: THE DANCE OF DEATH
That night I watched the muted flashes
Reflected off low somber clouds
And heard the muted rumble
Of distant artillery
As if a storm were approaching.
And I knew that somewhere
In the jungled hills out there
Uniformed figures flailed the air
In grotesque dances of death
Engulfed by flames
Shredded by shrapnel.
While I, weary beyond caring
Thought only of blessed sleep
Perhaps tomorrow or the days after that
I too would dance the dance of death
And then could rest forever.
Copyright © Albert Powers | Year Posted 2015
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Albert Powers Poem
GOOD WIFE, GOOD LIFE
The first time I met Louise
Forty-five years ago, in Nome, Alaska
She smiled at me
And I knew it was going to be a good day
Maybe even a good life.
Copyright © Albert Powers | Year Posted 2015
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Albert Powers Poem
A MOMENT PASSED BY
When I was young
A moment passed by
It seemed like such a small thing then
Words left unspoken
Feelings kept inside
Commitment brushed away.
Yet in that moment
A shadow seemed to pass
Before my soul
Like a specter with judgmental eyes
Sent to haunt my memories
All the days of my life
Sent to remind me of my silence
Sent to make me wish I could
Go back and live that moment over again
And get it right this time.
Copyright © Albert Powers | Year Posted 2015
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Albert Powers Poem
A FLOWER BLOSSOMS
Even in the dreary wastelands
Of the modern industrial age
In the dirty, shattered window panes
Of long-abandoned factories
In the stench of refineries, the smog
Even in all that
A dandelion stretches its lonely neck
Through a concrete crack
And blossoms.
Copyright © Albert Powers | Year Posted 2015
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