Long Khe Poems

It was a long and turbulent year
Beset with death, war and crime.
Oh! Where do we  journey from here?
Alas, a New Year begins its chimes.

Last January misfortune began
North Korea captured the Pueblo ship
While Americans soldiers...

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Thank You For Your Service

“Thank you for your service."
How many times have I heard that.
Do they know or understand?
Do they really care?

I fought at Bloody Antietam,
Shiloh, Gettysburg and Franklin.
Blue and gray, makes no difference.
Casualties measured...

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Saddle up! Saddle up! It time to go.
     I heard the Sergeant’s call
I held by rifle against my chest,
      And vowed to give my all
It’s time...

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Sailor - A Hindi Poem in English

I am giving below a Hindi Poem of a great Indian Hindi writer Jai Shankar Prasad (30 January 1890 – 15 November 1937). I have translated this short Poem...

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The Silent Legion

Tucked into closets both near and away,
Amidst cedar planks, now alee of the fray,
Rest class A’s once borne on frames
Straight and young.

A legion of aging uniforms hold fast
Fading ribbons of campaigns past,
Honoring selfless...

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SELLING      LIVES.    

Friday is free display day
For the old, the poor,
Plastc sheets spread over rain-filled  
Paths through the market square.

Step aside for an old woman
With a...

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Long day ...
Trudging jungle mud of the Da Krong
On the dirty heels of Charlie ...
At least eight skirmishes and a tunnel rout

Our platoon weaned of three more
The luck of the unlucky, headed home ... boxes
We...

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Mine enemy, well cursed and scorned
frail corpse askew and so adorned
in beggers cloths, cum uniform
was less a soldier ever born?

Scarlet spilled has gone to brown
the bullets spent that cut you down
have left a castle for...

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Suraj sa tapta ye roshan savera.....
Taron si bikhri ye kali rat h.....
Koi soye alishaN makano me.... .
Kisi ki chadar ye chandni rat h....
Kaise ye ajab duniya h....
Kaisa ajab insan h......

Khi Bahta h pani yo gande...

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Salute

Bunker Hill, Yorktown, Lundy’s Lane,
Monterey, Bull Run, Gettysburg, Shiloh,
Antietam, St. Mihiel, Belleau Woods,
D-Day, Saipan, Iwo Jima, The Bulge,
Chosin Reservoir, Pork Chop Hill,
Ia Drang, Khe Sanh, Hamburger Hill,
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Famous battles in American history.

Washington, Scott, Grant,...

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They held the field, men side by side,
Their will intact, their fears subside.
They mustered in so many fields,
And held the ground, refused to yield.
At Lexington went toe to toe,
With British troops, a worthy foe.
McHenry saw...

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If one day you don't kiss me anymore,
All the leaves and flowers are arid and die,
And the ocean has no waves dancing to the shore
There’s no rolling cloud in the blue sky

If one day you...

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Lessons learned
by first the Chinese
then France
and the Unites States...

Never underestimate
unconventional units
or guerrilla warfare
supported by regular units...

Dien Bien Phu
Bernard B. Fall
called it
"Hell in a very small place"
soon after 1954
America walked the "Street without joy"

The Viet Minh
attacking...

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(TWENTYNET  - 60s)

LOSS   OF   INNOCENCE




Fab four
Psychedelic colors
LSD powered yellow submarine
Ragas and flower children
Great Society
Female Liberation
Black Power
San Francisco
State of innocence  - Garden of Eden
Shake off shackles of this earth
Space race
Gagarin...

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Sleeping Quarters
By David J Walker 

The V for Vet designated the sleeping quarters
For the soldiers on the small-town cemeteries roster
I can only imagine what they might say to each other
at muster of the sunrise rollcall
The...

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Who so maligns a noble man, 
None but his own self tends to stain,
The ash thrown over head,
On one’s own head gets spread,
O indulge in no smear campaign.
__________________
Translation |28.01.2025| wisdom,  

 Poet’s note: Sanskrit...

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