Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
by Dennis Johnson
I walk this earth in search of ghosts.
Not the translucent vagaries of too much drink or imagination;
But haunting, none the less.
The ghosts are men who disappeared while serving our country;
The ones who didn't come home.
Granted, none of us came home the same person.
But most of us made it home alive.
I see the ghosts of those brave men not yet home.
Those who were lost to us.
Those who died.
Those who were captured.
Those who are still missing.
I see them in many places, both expected and inexpected.
When a see Old Glory waving in the wind, I see them.
When I hear a certain song, a phrase, a name,
I see them.
When I sit at the Wall they gather 'round,
Seeking news of family, friends, things in the World.
When I walk the streets at night they walk with me.
I am never really alone.
Remembering the dreams I had back then, I mourn the loss of all the dreams they never
had a chance to fulfill.
Remembering the songs we sang back then, I think of all the songs they've never heard.
Remembering my children as they were growing up, I wonder about all the children
who grew up without their fathers.
There was a time when I hid from the ghosts of war.
Living in a void, trying to avoid.
Now I seek them out.
They are all around me.
Robbed of their future, they remind me of the past.
They want to be remembered and I will remember them, forever.
©2000 Dennis Johnson
