In observance of Memorial Day 2016, I am enclosing a copy of a poem, my ‘letter to the wall’, that I wrote for the VFP Memorial Day Event and which I
understand will be placed at the Wall as part of the VFP commemoration.
I wanted to share the piece with you and your Chapter membership.
Please feel free to redistribute it or to use it in any way that you see fit.
Warmest regards, ‘Ex-Sp5’ John Buquoi Richardson, TX
A ‘LETTER’ ON MEMORIAL DAY 2016
ANOTHER MEMORIAL DAY…
CALL IT FIFTY MORE YEARS OR SO
ON DOWN THE ROAD FROM VIỆT NAM
DOUG HAS SUGGESTED A LETTER
HE SAYS, ’A LETTER TO THE WALL’
OR, MORE PRECISELY, I SUPPOSE
SOME WORDS TODAY TO THOSE OF YOU
WHO LIVE ON BUT IN MEMORY
AND SOMEWHERE HERE INSIDE THE WALL
IN ALL THESE STARK ENGRAVED GRAY NAMES
SHARP CUT DEEP UNTIL FOREVER
INTO THIS COLD BLACK GRANITE STONE
IT’S JUST ‘A LETTER’, HE SAYS, BUT
IT SHOULD BE SOMETHING ‘FROM THE HEART’
IF I COULD, I’D WRITE MYSTIC WORDS
THAT WOULD ROLL BACK TIME ITSELF
TO FIFTY SOMETHING YEARS AGO
ERASING SO-CALLED ‘MESSAGES’
SENT BY THOSE FOOLS TO VIỆT NAM
BY WAY OF ALL OF YOUR BODIES
AND, IN THE END, YOUR VERY LIVES
IN THE EXPLICIT HARSH REPLIES
YOUR ALL TOO NEEDLESS DEATHS BROUGHT HOME,
AS WORD CAME BACK FROM OVER THERE
FOREVER PAST UNDERSTANDING
BUT, FOR ME, HERE, WORDS ONLY FAIL
BEYOND THE SAYING ONE MORE TIME
THAT I STILL WISH THE ALL OF IT
HAD NOT EVER EVEN HAPPENED
AND THAT YOU WOULD HAVE ALL BEEN SPARED
THE WANTON, WASTED, SENSELESS DEATHS
THAT CUT SO SHORT THE OLDER ONES
YOU WOULD HAVE, LIVING, NOW BECOME…
MAYBE AS TODAY’S MESSENGERS
WHO COULD’VE TAUGHT US ONCE FOR ALL
TO JUST STOP DOING IT AGAIN
SO, I GUESS THAT’S IT… THERE IT IS…
NOT REALLY MUCH OF A LETTER
BUT, AS I SAID AND SAY AGAIN,
WORDS SIMPLY FAIL ME HERE… ALTHOUGH,
THIS BRIEF MISSIVE TO YOU BROTHERS
IS SINCERELY STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART