The Wall

It's Memorial Day and so I thought I'd post a poem I wrote about the Viet Nam Wall when I was in Washington D.C. about 10 or 11 years ago.

I stood at the wall today and waited for
some feeling to come over me.
Some feeling of pain,
or loss,
or sense of death.
Some frustration for an unjust war.
But none came.

I read a letter a survivor wrote
to the men he served with.
He would not have made it back without them.
Yet he did not come back with them.

They are names on a wall
Unfamiliar to me.
Heroes of whom I have no memories.

The author promised to tell the young people.
To forever keep them alive.

And I believe he will.

Three other men found a name
they had been searching for.
On tip toe they traced it to paper -
a perfect stencil.
They were smiling.
I wondered for a moment who he was to them.

A man walked by missing part of his right arm
and I felt sorry for him.
I thought he would probably hate that
I felt sorry for him.
There were tears in his eyes,
but they were not for his own missing limbs.

A woman stood touching the wall -
motionless
for what must have been half an hour.
I noticed her casually as I walked by,
I will never forget how she looked.

I felt left out, as I stood at the wall.
Half-wishing I had a name to look for,
Half-thankful I did not.

They are names on a wall
Unfamiliar to me.
Heroes of whom I have no memories.

I am thankful others do.
For I understand...
we must never forget.