For those of us who never got a parade.
***
ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE,
ANOTHER WAR
We are old men now, graying, grandparents,
those of us who are still alive.
We are black and white and yellow and red
and every shade in between
We are crippled, some in body, some in mind,
all in soul
We bled and we died and we came home where
we bled and died some more
We came home to an indifferent
and uncaring nation
And we left more than blood
in a far and distant land
We are old men now, graying, grandparents
those of us who are still alive
We watch our sons, our daughters return
from yet another far and distant land
We watch and weep, weep bitter tears
for a generation, a youth lost
But also tears of joy, tears for a nation,
a new beginning, tears for yellow ribbons
on the Central Boulevards of Hometown, USA
It was a long time coming, our welcome home
Through misty, half-closed eyes, we remember,
and imagine, imagine we see our own names,
just a faint imprint, a ghost-like image,
but our own names on those signs
We see the names and the ribbons
on the Central Boulevards of Hometown, USA
and we remember another time,
another place, another war.
We are old men now, graying, grandparents
those of us who are still alive.
Lonnie Henderson
May 29, 1991
Anadarko, OK