tonight I remember

tonight I remember my brothers who couldn’t stay here with the rest of us, who died young and left the mystery of life to me, to Baker, to Ken, to Ed, to Deke. my brothers in arms, lost almost forty years ago, early in the morning when it was dark, and the world was lit with magnesium flares and muzzle flashes and tracer rounds.

oh, my perfect friends from far ago, torn and ended on that nameless hill. you who were numbers in the next day’s count, but you who are an endless ache in the hearts of those who knew you, loved you, looked at you in death and never recovered from the guilt that it was you and not us lying there in peaceful nothingness, you who were the best of us.

it is raining outside the window where I sit, the window where I wait across the years to hear your voices again, see your faces again, dig in for the night again, one hole away from yours again, wake you after four hours sleep to watch the night again.

I am tired with living, but I live for you. I am tired with moving, but I move for you. I am tired with waiting, but I wait for you. watch after me, my lost comrades. we have come so far together, you and I, and there seems to be so far to go. know that I have never forgotten you.

never forgotten you.