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, Lee, Custer,
Pershing, Patton, Eisenhower, Nimitz,
MacArthur, Westmoreland, Abrams.
Famous leaders in American history.
We are all familiar with these names and places.
But what about the nameless men and women?
The faceless citizens who gave up families, jobs,
education, comfort.
The ones who gave America their blood, bodies,
minds to defend us and set others free.
Their blood has stained countless lands.
Their wounds, physical and mental,
should remind us that freedom is not cheap.
The noncoms, privates, petty officers, junior officers.
The occupants of The Tomb of the Unknown,
the Punch Bowl, the French cemeteries, Arlington,
and countless unknown graves.
The living dead who suffer from grievous wounds
and PTSD.
These are the true heroes.
NO MORE TO TRY AGAIN
By Tapiwa N. Maseko
At first my heart was filled with every sweet-talk
It was so prompted in a love walk
Because of your immaculate face
That propelled many people including I, myself to be in a love race
I didn’t know that your heart is a temporally love place
If I knew at first time in your love I couldn’t prance.
No more to try again
Because it left me in great pain
It perished everything good from your heart I did gain
I didn’t understand when your love stated to wane
The question which was hovering in my mind was “Since when?”
Our love was so luminous which could surpass the light that sun brings
Our love was so fly then why did you cut its wings
Because yours withered like a leaf
I have known that love is just a myth
I was thinking that it was during “Golden age” of our love
But it was the same year your love I started to starve.
It was a tragedy of life
To lose somebody who was to be my wife
Hence I agree to this saying
“Girls have to be loved but not trusted because for trust is
Only word which ought to be found in the vocabulary but
Not in the heart of a person.
I can claim
No more that I will try again.