AND I WEEP

       By "Top" Shultz

I sit here alone and can no longer hide,
Hide from a past that stays by my side;
Lay down the memories and just walk away,
Away from this past I will never stay.
AND I WEEP.

I think of the men I loved with no shame,
Yes, faces I see, but without any name;
Whatever happened to that big Texas kid?
I've forgotten his name, and that's a damn shame.
AND I WEEP.

Why wasn't it me that got put in that bag,
Why wasn't it me with no more than a tag;
I shouldn't have sent him, just gone on alone,
I had no reason to live, and can no longer atone.
AND I WEEP.

I weep not only for the dead in that far away place,
But more for the living, and the life they now face;
The scars are still ragged, like ripped open wounds,
We live now encaged in our own private tombs.
AND I WEEP.

The deep lines of grief on a friend of mine's face,
As we talked and remembered of that other place;
His eyes filled with tears as a name filled the screen,
He had to walk away to his own private grief.
AND I WEEP.

For what is life now, after all that we've done,
Are we supposed to be happy, and just have some fun?
We survived it all, these many years after,
So, now should our lives be just filled with laughter?
AND I WEEP.

I will never forget those days and those nights,
I will never forget that long dreary fight;
I welcome the pain that the past brings anew,
For with it are memories of the proud men I knew.
AND I WEEP.

I weep for my country all covered with shame,
I weep for the traitors who filled us with pain;
I weep for the mothers, her sons left behind,
I weep for those that we never will find.
AND I WEEP.

I pray the time will come when a new light will shine,
A light filled with peace, with love that is kind;
When mothers no longer their sons have to waste,
In a world without war, no lives given in haste.

To hell the roads of combat, at home or away,
With bodys all torn and young lives thrown away;
When war is a memory forgotten at last,
No longer will flags have to fly at half mast.

Where weeping no longer is part of our life,
Where greed and self-living no longer brings strife;
But that is a dream which I'll never see,
And from these cruel memories I never will flee.
AND I WEEP.