~The Dragon Flies' Lair~Thread~XXII

August 28, 2005 | bentfeather/The Poets of the Lair

[Soaring Feather]

My Dragon Fly and Me

If I could be a Dragon Fly
and wing my way through the sky
I would never be shy
just me and my Dragon Fly!

By moonlight we ride the wind
chase the comets tail for fun
by day we would hide from the sun
our fragile wings would come undone

On darkest nights we would use
fireflies as our guide
we would dip and we would glide
through the heavens open wide
and scatter diamonds in the night sky
my Dragon Fly and me...

And we would wing past our lovers
silent in the night...
to kiss their face in our flight
much to their surprise and delight
my Dragon Fly and me in sight...

Such a view do we share
away up here in the air
of breezes soft through our hair
my Dragon Fly and me a pair...

bentfeather©

[Soaring Feather]

Hello and Welcome to the The Dragon Flies' Lair.

Oh wonderful, you posted your poem in the Lair.

We don't critique anyones' work here. We read and enjoy one another's adventures into poetry writing.
You'll be happy to learn there is another VietNam Vet posting on this board.

[SAMWolf]

Actually it's Steel Panthers:World at War. ;-)

[SAMWolf]

Thanks to Snippy carrying a lot of the load, yes. :-)

[SAMWolf]

Have to have some "rough house" time. :-),

[Soaring Feather]

Well, partners do things like that. ;)

[SAMWolf]

Very good.

Welcome home.

[Soaring Feather]

Sure do with puppies! I just love this little fella.

[SAMWolf]

I'd be a basket case without her.

[SAMWolf]

Mannahatta



I WAS asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon, lo! upsprang the aboriginal name!

Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly,
musical, self-sufficient;

I see that the word of my city is that word up there,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb, with tall and wonderful
spires,
Rich, hemm’d thick all around with sailships and steamships—an island sixteen
miles
long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets—high growths of iron, slender, strong, light, splendidly
uprising toward clear skies;
Tide swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining islands, the heights, the
villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the ferry-boats, the black
sea-steamers well-model’d;
The down-town streets, the jobbers’ houses of business—the houses of business of
the
ship-merchants, and money-brokers—the river-streets;
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week;
The carts hauling goods—the manly race of drivers of horses—the brown-faced
sailors;
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft;
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells—the broken ice in the river, passing along, up or
down,
with the flood tide or ebb-tide;
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form’d, beautiful-faced, looking you
straight
in the eyes;
Trottoirs throng’d—vehicles—Broadway—the women—the shops and
shows,
The parades, processions, bugles playing, flags flying, drums beating;
A million people—manners free and superb—open voices—hospitality—the
most
courageous and friendly young men;
The free city! no slaves! no owners of slaves!
The beautiful city, the city of hurried and sparkling waters! the city of spires and
masts!
The city nested in bays! my city!
The city of such women, I am mad to be with them! I will return after death to be with
them!
The city of such young men, I swear I cannot live happy, without I often go talk, walk,
eat,
drink, sleep, with them!

Walt Whitman

[Soaring Feather]

You both are very strong people, Sam. When the two of you work together as you do and have done, the bridge is always fortified. One boosts up the other.

Wonderful working relationship.

[Soaring Feather]

WOW, great poem!! Perfect graphic as only our Sam can scrounge! LOL

I remember the old nickname "King of Scroungers," SamWolf!!

Thanks Sam, I am so glad to have you and snippy back in the Lair.

[Soaring Feather]

---

Thought of the Day

---

Chinese educator, writer and diplomat Tehyi Hsieh
said, "The key to success isn't much good until
one discovers the right lock to insert it in."

---

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 12, the 285h day of 2005 with 80 to follow.

Yom Kippur begins at sundown.

The moon is waxing.

The morning stars are Mars and Saturn. The evening stars are Mercury,Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus and Pluto.

[WayzataJOHNN]

Their Days and Mine

Its nearly 40 years since my days in hell now,
yet I remember those distant vivid yesterdays.
In a land of wet green under a hot sun’s rays,
I learned hard lessons, and lived somehow.

I remember those who fell beside me,
some screaming their mortality amid pain.
Others fell so silence, never to speak again,
except upon a long dark wall, their name to see.

I recall homeward bound those who yelled at me,
and the one who spit, and I broke his jaw that day.
I remember the airport policeman, who looked away,
as the whiners demanded that arrested I should be.

I remember being turned down for jobs so often,
and every TV show had a crazed Nam Vet in a rage.
Being a Vet was to hurt, even after this long age,
separated by the politics of left-leaning empty Zen.

I remember the early mornings as we moved upriver,
watching the shorelines with unspoken fear so tense.
I remember I was so alive to the things I could sense,
and how at the smallest sound I’d feel that little shiver.

I tell you, in the bitter end, I didn’t come home, my fate
I never made it back to the real world, it died along the way.
I watched the cruelty of the left come back on me each day,
yet I forged on ahead, because I can’t give into their hate.

I speak not of the things I did there, for they are too strong,
and only those who were there understand them anyway.
I still find anger at what the left will claim or boast to say,
for they have zero invested in America, their way so wrong.

Maybe one day, I’ll find my way home at last,
and just be a man who makes his way to freedom.
Forgotten, is a pain that adds up into a bitter sum,
and old liars strut and preen for their evils past.

I remember more then those fools, who protest now,
I’ve lived through what they do not even understand.
They are children of the liars and cowards, a sad band,
and only interested in creating some newsworthy row.

[AZamericonnie]

Afternoon Ms. Feather!

[Soaring Feather]

Good afternoon, AZ. Lovely graphic.

[MNJohnnie]

They are children of the liars and cowards, a sad band, and only interested in creating some newsworthy row.

Attention! Present ARMS! Welcome home Sir. Thank you for your service to our country.

[snippy_about_it]

...and of this our children boast.

Great ending.

Thank you for your service.

[MNJohnnie]

You'll be happy to learn there is another VietNam Vet posting on this board.

My apologies for the confusion I caused. I realized after I shut down my computer that my poem might be misunderstood. My poem should of been in third person, not first person, I realized after the fact. I am a Former US Army Infantryman. An 11B, but am NOT a Nam Vet. Was born in 1964. I am just old enough to remember the disgraceful way my country treated her soldiers in the aftermath. It is one of the few things I am ashamed of my country for. So sorry for the confusion I caused, here is the finalized version of my poem.

For them there were no homecomings, no yellow ribbons, no parades.

58,266 of their heroes moulder in their graves.

They answered our call, They stood their ground and met their foes with steel.

In a land far away, call Viet Nam.

For this their countrymen spit on them and said they should be 'shamed.

They bite their tongues, got on with life and held their 'Nam brothers close

They hid their tears and their scars and dreamed of forgotten ghosts.

And the generations change and time moves on and the critics learn a truth.

It is not them who are shamed but they who had spit.

They answered our call, fulfilled their oath and of this their children's children still boast!

[snippy_about_it]

You'll be happy to learn there is another VietNam Vet posting on this board.

Oh, those guys. LOL. Yeah, we know them.

I still thank you for your service.

Thanks for the finalized version.

[snippy_about_it]

I'd be a basket case without her.

LOL. Talkin' about me while I'm not here 'eh?

I'd be a basket case without you too Sam. We're good for eachother. It's boring in the store without you and Sarge. Please train him to mind quickly. :-)