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NO MAN'S LAND

 

Slowly we descend, from the skies above,

Thousands of miles from the land we love.

I stare out the window, expecting to see,

Signs of the enemy, waiting for me.

 

We come to a stop, the door opens wide,

What mystery awaits, out there, outside.

With nerves on end, I come to my feet,

Only to discover, the tremendous heat.

 

No enemy awaits, no battle cry,

Not a single gunship crosses the sky.

If not for the natives, we wouldn't know,

This was Viet-nam, and not Chicago.

 

We're loaded on trucks and taken inland,

To join our units, we're so much in demand.

We've only been here a day or so,

They've given us weapons, we can't say no.

 

Here I am in a jungle so dense,

Like trying to run through a barbed wire fence.

Mosquito's and leeches, all over the place,

They seem to favor my innocent face.

 

They've put me on point, because of my size,

They wouldn't listen to my fearful cries.

A machete and compass, my only weapons,

I want a machine-gun if anything happens.

 

But in no time at all, I learn to make do,

I learned I can shoot with my left hand too.

With carbine slung, by my side real low,

I chop through the bush, it's sure a slow go.

 

Our eyes met first, and it seemed so long,

Before I realized, that he's a Viet-cong.

I empty my carbine, he fires one round,

He's lying there bleeding, down on the ground.

 

Three times I'd hit him, he cannot live,

He's paid the price, given all he can give.

Why won't he die, he keeps staring at me,

Please let him live, is my earnest plea.

 

I pinch him and slap him, to keep him awake,

Don't go to sleep, or death will you take.

My efforts are useless, I've done too much harm,

His eyes have closed, he's died in my arms.

 

Why do I still suffer, each night in my dreams,

He would have killed me, or so it seems.

Does that make it right, who can say,

I may never know, but for him I still pray.

 

PFC Robert L Lisenby    2nd Platoon,  Company C, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

 

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Updated September 01, 2004