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Tag(s): Death; Military Madness; Poetry; Spirituality; Spirituality; War -Antiwar
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June 7, 2007 at 18:47:56

It Is Finished (Dream 2)

by Jim Bush Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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As I come up over the lip of the hill

I see it, spread out there, deep in a valley

From the foot of the hill to the far horizon

One great mass of humanity

Covering every square foot of ground

Swaying back and forth, in near silence

Their eyes are closed

Their arms remain slack

And their lips are tightly pursed

Their movement creates human waves

That slowly roll across the valley

From one side of the valley floor to the other

The only sound is a swooshing

Like the sound of a field of wheat

Moving to and fro in a gentle breeze

I am staggered by what lays before me

The sight sucks the air from my lungs

The sound rakes through my ears

Then I feel a wind begin to push me forward

I try to dig my heels in, to resist

But the wind seems to lift me off the ground

I begin to float down the slope

Toward the swaying mass below

I can't stop my drop and start to cry

I cry because I start to remember

I start to remember how I got here

And I start to realize where I am

I think I remember where I had been;

It was a place called;

Jamestown

Or was it Chapultepec?

Or maybe it was Fredericksburg

No, I think it was Wounded Knee

No, No, it was Belleau Wood!

Oh, that's not it!

Maybe it was Auschwitz

No I think it was the Yalu River

Or was it My Lai?

I know, It was Haditha!

God, I can't remember!

But, I do remember the blood!

And the smell!

And, oh God, I remember how it felt!

Oh God! I'm almost down!

I'm almost at the bottom!

I'm going to merge with the mass below!

Here it comes!

Here it is!

I'm here!

In desperation

Then resignation

And finally, dissolution

I dissolve into the mass of humanity

And begin to sway

With eyes closed, arms slack, and lips pursed

It is finished

Jim Bush is a 61 year old, Vietnam-era veteran, currently living in Katy,Texas. He was raised in a military family. His father received the Silver Star for directing troops while under air attack at Clark Field in the Phillipines, survived the Bataan Death March, and spent three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp. He also received the Purple Heart for wounds received while a POW. Jim served as an army photographer in Okinawa and Korea. In 1987 he traveled to the war zones of Nicaragua with a veteran's group dedicated to stopping the Contra War.

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1 comments

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." --Theodore Roosevelt My favorite quote, currently anyway. All American's should memorize it!
judeedee"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." --Theodore Roosevelt My favorite quote, currently anyway. All American's should memorize it!

We are all connected in heart and history

I have rarely heard someone utter the words so eloquently and with so much sensitivity and honesty in speaking of our collective-consciousness. It is very powerful when we become empathic (sic?) and makes us feel so small. Yet, so soulful!

Thank you, again, for your poem.

by judeedee (0 articles, 11 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 29 comments) on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 12:17:21 AM