It was the Eighties
And among the ladies
You stood out
Hey LT it's not a dodge
Over my heart there was camouflage
Still you stood out
Your bars of silver
Your beauty a killer
That shot my heart down
The band tried, you sang
"Still Loving You" a birth pang
Tomorrow I'm leaving town
Your beauty gave me a command
At attention you made me stand
A salute from Cpl. Wiggle
Love was ever here and far
As I started to play air guitar
It made you giggle
Now the Eighties a forty year aftermath
In Hannover Germany, intersections path
I wonder where you are today
What's sad about this matter
It was just a moment soon to scatter
You never knew your beauty effected me this way
This world is bound around the heart,
For we are bound to do our part.
An idea forms, an army in light
One day, we'll stand together to fight.
The world's heart beats in you and me,
In bonds we forge, in hope we see.
In unity lies our greatest strength.
Together we'll rise and free the world at length.
“Peace on earth will come to stay,
When we live Christmas every day”
Helen Steiner Rice
I saw a beggar at the street light
I rolled up my window in fuchsia fright
You may ask me the question why
I fear men more than I fear Christ
The truth is ugly is it not so
Perhaps I have no cash to dispose
Even if that is the case I know
God frowns upon a stingy soul
I donated to the charity on tv
For kids Christmas by Salvation Army
I don’t feel bad they once helped me
And tis the season to help those who need
Saw another panhandling man
Thought to myself well here’s my chance
Offered to buy him food or groceries
He declined says he only wants cash money
But his sign said he needs food
Not trying to be funny or rude
I had no cash and indeed I refuse
To give him money to buy booze
So I told him that I had no cash
It wasn’t a lie to tell him that
I didn’t care if he was upset or mad
Looking at me judging me with a laugh
Peace on earth is a delicacy indeed
This man and his demons a mystery
He obviously wanted money from me
But instead got prayer that God meets needs
Armies ~ soldiers called to action.
War to some is nothing but play.
The reality is quite different.
AP: 1st place 2025
Mamella called her flying army to her side
they came in the form of twenty crows
we are taking out the trash, she said with pride
ready to tear people apart, as everyone knows
the rest of us hid inside
Raggedy Army
As morning bathes in spring sunshine
A raggedy army stands in line.
Unkempt and ragtag, oddly sized,
Unarranged, disorganised.
Red, a splash among the grey
A new parade at dawn each day.
Some heads drooping, some held high,
A handful gazing at the sky.
Fresh and bright to start the morning,
Most won’t see a new day’s dawning.
In summer’s heat, the same routine -
A new head where an old had been.
In autumn’s fading dying light
A hardy few keep up the fight.
But then to hide in winter’s snow,
Till spring’s warmth says it’s time to show.
And bursting forth and standing proud,
Though scattered, battered, thrashed and ploughed
The raggedy army stands again
Eternal homage to fallen men.
A time,
that we celebrate two hundred fifty years
A time,
filled, with sweat, shed blood, and tears.
A time,
when many answered their country’s call.
A time,
when many, were required to give their all
A time,
when many were called to fight in foreign wars
A time,
for beach landings on some far away shores
A time,
that I see “an arouse my memory” parade
A time,
for remembering the price many have paid.
The silence here is not of peace—
It hums like blood beneath the skin,
A hollow hush that will not cease,
A quiet carved from what has been.
No birds, no breeze. Just broken ground,
And boots that whisper through the dust.
Even echoes fear this sound,
Where dreams break and memories rust.
I used to hear the laughter loud,
My brother's voice, a cigarette spark—
Now silence wears a heavy shroud
And wraps the camp when it turns dark.
It tastes like ash, this voiceless night,
Like letters burnt and prayers gone still.
The stars don't speak. They watch in spite,
And silence marches, cold and shrill.
**********
********** o n a i r l a n d a n d s e a
**********
********** w e n t to w a r a n d g a v e t h e i r l i v e s ~
**********
t h e y f o u g h t f o r f r e e d o m
They all wanted to be
“Real men”
So off into the cruel seas they go
In a big scrap of metal..
Might as well be going to their coffins..
And so they did, i never saw them again..
And when i think of them,
all i can see is the pain and
suffering they had been experiencing
I wanted to be a real man too.
So off into the fields of sand I go..
The skies were a dark indigo.
And i look down at the ground below
My feet
And I see
A small blue forget me not..
Lying dead on the sand..
And then I too, lie on the sand..
I have fought wars in my head
And wars with my gun
I have buried my friends
Because they wanted to be
“Real men”
Forget me not solider.
For i am your dearest friend
Okay I now understood what they meant by the school
academy
the uniform is a brotherhood
of man,
tis the gun is yet unknown but only for a little a thing,
little a thing.
How often in our town we often might have thought
this is a kind of cinema or video or news
this is something powerful and fine.
Once it is said let find a school , let do it, and let it be
true for the uniform it admire
and for the uniform is something.
Okay, the world was once a small house that now
is growing, Okay twenty years now passed by- fresh
- and tender.
What does it mean is for-to- concerning this kind of
thinking of school academy?.
At the Spitfire factory love was found
Not long before off to war I was bound
To do my duty to God and all those
Whose lives were dreadfully threatened by foes.
I joined the army, though aptly afraid
Meeting up with a brave band of comrades
There I trained to become an engineer
Fixing motors, an army gadgeteer.
It was horrific in the mist of war
Sounds of bombs exploding, gunshots galore
Sleep didn't come comfy, the nights were unkind
Missing home and the love I'd left behind.
We were married when I came home on leave
Soon some sensational news I received
Our first, and only child was on the way
Joy filled my heart on that historic day.
War ended, our family was complete
I held the son I'd been longing to meet
From that day on life was pure utter joy
For me, my wife and our bonnie young boy.
* * *
Walter Edmonds
What they don’t tell You
What the recruiters tell you:
“Be all you can be.”
“An Army of one.”
“Fly high with the Air Force.”
“Join the Navy and see the world.”
“Be the best. Be a Marine.”
“Join the National Guard and get an education and keep your job.”
Things recruiters leave out:
Watching your friend(s) go home in body bag(s).
The dirt and sweat.
C rations, K rations, MRE’s.
PTSD, suicides, drug addiction.
Limbs lost. Traumatic brain injury.
Bloated, decomposing corpses.
Dead men, women and children.
Fear so intense you soil yourself.
Lice, sand, dust, cold, heat.
The stench of death.
Families torn apart.
Long road to rehab or death whichever comes first.
In crisp fall air, a crowd's joyful football roar
Trump stands with a smile, a leader to adore
With banners flying Army, Navy-- the rivalry's fierce
A moment in time, where spirit won't cease
© daniel miltz
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