Arlington West

Arlington West
by Spec4 J.M.Lamoreux, 184th Ordinance Battalion
Bin Dinh Province, Vietnam
1968―Forever

It’s been a long time
Since I stood on a shore somewhere
And smelled the salt water
While the wind whisked itself
In a cool spray
Across my skin.

Suspended in the air
A seagull marks the moment
The sun rising under its white wings,
Handling the currents
Sustaining its effortless viewpoint.

The seagull looks behind me
Maybe fifty yards or so
Where the sand is dotted with
Carefully placed crosses.

Behind me is a symbol of lives abruptly ended
In front of me is the watery archetype
From which all life arose.
I am caught between
Two inevitable, inescapable directions.

Behind me
America is finally allowed to mourn.
It is allowed to voice its pain
As well as its pride.
It is allowed to support
Without being labeled a cheerleader
And dissent
Without being labeled “reprehensible.”

Mothers can come
And tend to their son or daughter’s cross
As they cared for them as children
Wiping noses and tears
Getting them dressed to go to school
And ready to go to bed.

No one says they are hurting the war effort.
They are tending to their grief.

Children can come here
And wonder who the names were
And no one chases them away
As we have all been chased away
From trying to understand
Any of this

The ground is decorated
With flowers, letters, stuffed animals
As if they all made their way alone
To some western version of Mecca.

People come
To speak to the departed
With their sorrow, tears,
And steady leaf-fall of
Colorful mementos
Gathering in one sigh
Of “I love you,” and “good-bye.”

Let us all come as one America
To Arlington West.

Let us speak what is in our hearts
And praise and question unmolested
By those who think that wars
Are not suffered by human beings

Who feel loss
And fear
And helplessness,
Hope,
Courage,
And pain,

Human beings who must travel for miles
Across a bitterly divided nation
To lay a ribbon

On a white cross

Placed on a beach on the shores
Of Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Oceanside and―

The world.