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At the Vfw Post In Buang, Phillipines
At the VFW Post in Buang, Philippines they know Macarthur
Staggering off then
Swaggering back onto
These Philippines Islands and the
Wail of Hirohito
Drowning in chorus with the headsman’s gush of
Bloodstained tears
Upon the occasion
Of Bataan
Remembered.
Then in repose off old Mactan, there still smiles
Lapu Lapu in his
Billion particles
Drifting a sea to the
Portuguese dance of
Forgotten melodies while
Sugarcane hills
Rise in symphony for Jose Rizal and the
Three hundred and some odd year smoldering hue of
Senior Legazpi
Clutching the
Sunrise brilliant over
Manila
Gleaming.
For the sand still whispers to the
Prodigal bow of
Yamashita’s gunboat and the
Mindanao lair of two old samurai
Forever glistening in the jungle deep as
God’s Perfection crescendos to the
Indefatigable,
Invincible,
Infinitely indelible thought that
Battle,
Broken in all man can make,
Fades
Forever.
So when does Empire reek
It’s savage
On the splendid meek
In lands long gotten over
Purchased souls as the
Old boys
Master around
Three dollar specials and the
Endless clink of San Miguels join
Hank Williams in an aging jukebox
Carefully laid for one night,
When all the glories of a thousand years are
Wonderfully recited in an
Afternoon when a
Sunglass wearing,
Corn-cob pipe-smoking,
“Look at me now” presence of a
Gangly man
Dashed ashore in the
Post mortem swelter of a
Gallant soldier’s
Passing?
September 2009 Jeff Troyer
Copyright ©
Jeff Troyer
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