July 5th, 1996
The Fourth rose hard fire tracing lines across the sky
Then you went quiet slipping past the noise without reply
Vietnam lived in you like a shadow that never left
A war carried inward silent disciplined and deft
At fifty you stepped out of the world with no parade
While fireworks kept burning blind to the cost you paid
Now each July Fourth stands rigid cold and bright
And July Fifth returns thirty years held in that light
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