Dog Tags
Dog Tags
By David J Walker
My Dog-tags remain
chained
Still hanging
On a hook inside my
Closet door
For years now
The same
Except for the occasions that
Remind me of why I
Wore them
And
Why I still keep them
With my
Last name first
First name last
Middle initial
Service number
Blood type
And religion
Everything one needs to
Know
To get me back home
The tinny tinkling
Sound
Of them around my
Neck
As I walk
The P-38 C-Rations
Can opener that every
Experienced soldier regarded as
Essential
Well
My Dog-tags were
Essential
For three years
And thereafter only on
Special occasions that I needed to
Feel them clanking between my
Shirt and skin
Before then
From my middle years
I could only
remember
And remember
And remember
For so many years
The memories
Would not stop
Would not fade
Would not go away
As each would invade
My every day
Every day
Every day
But the
Abacus
Keeps count
as the days turn into
Years
And
A metamorphosis occurs
Perspective
Has not made me necessarily
wise
Though perhaps
Gracious and
thoughtful
when I finally realize
the enemy wore
dog tags too
And now
As I am old
I can hold them
we can be friends
the kind that
after many years
finds reasons to
laugh again
so
It’s ok with me
If my Dog-tags rest
Upon my chest
and
They may be helpful to
Explain
Who I was
As I’m taken back home
Again
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