Tribute to a Friend

" Incoming " 

 I awake in fear

and realize death is near

I reach the wall but not all

Can escape the rain of death

I see the flame of the rockets breath

I hear its voice loud and clear

I see the bodies in the air

Deep inside me I prepare

To view this scene and feel no care

I run with others to the tent

 Fires burning here and there

The penetrating screams of friends

Dying rend the Smokey air

Four are dead, but three still live

And Joe at center stage

Is blown in half, But hasn't yet

passed on to the grave

On two hands, He crawls to us

gasping out my name

"Help Me Help Me" were his words

I felt eternal flame

As he crawled, He left a trail

Seconds seemed eternity

No one moved we just looked on

Pondering his destiny

It hadn't been a month ago

I sat at camp and talked to Joe

He got a letter from his wife

She couldn't tolerate her life

She needed someone close at hand

To be the loving part of man

And Joe's heart broke and so did mine

And so our souls intertwined

And as Joe died I looked inside

and found a little place to hide

I didn't weep I didn't sleep

One more thing tossed on the heap

In my flesh I bear the scars

of deeds performed for freedoms cause

And in my mind I feel the fire

Of deaths of friends for freedoms laws

I feel freedoms holy bond

Twixd he and me who passed beyond

And in his hour of last request

I saw the cost of freedom

As I watched him give his all

I swore an oath within myself

He handed me the holy right

Freedom more than life itself

To kill the enemies of peace

Also in his last bequeath

and never count the cost to me

I contemplate its meaning

 W.J.Henderson