once a place where I was

That's fair enough Norm. I don't know what set of cirumstances resulted in this innocence coming to a "screeching, violent halt fewer than three years distant", though I imagine it would have some connection with military service, taken in the context of your other pieces on that subject.
But reading this piece in isolation, the reader would not be aware of that contrast, without the reference you've given there.
Thanks Norm - I was wondering about the significance of the poem - hope you don't mind being asked...