A Veteran’s Tears
I recall the day I met him, when I went to read my poem
About the Anzac spirit, at the district veterans home
He was sitting in the corner, medals on his chest
But from his haunting memories. He would never rest
He beckoned me to join him and I sat beside his chair
In tones he spoke so softly, his eyes a vacant stare
He said “I’m grateful for your visit and the way you make words rhyme
Having listened to your story, it’s time to tell you mine
I was barely nineteen years of age, when I donned my jungle greens
I never had a second thought, it was all part of my genes
Pop served on the Western Front, Dad Kokoda Track
I had no inhibitions, ‘cause they all made it back
I found myself at Nui Dat, boarding choppers at first light
If I practiced all I’d learned, I thought that I’d be right
But all the courses I had done, didn’t seem to count
Trudging through the paddy fields and the casualties began to mount
After twelve months they sent me home and I saw how life had changed
As if everything I valued, had all been rearranged
Friends had turned against me, for going to that war
So I embarked on the Vung Tau Ferry and went off for a second tour
Tet should have seen a ceasefire, but that was just a con
In villages and cities the firefights still dragged on
We were from many units, fulfilling our own role
We wore different coloured lanyards, but we only had one goal
The enemy fell upon us and all that I can say
These were no peasant farmers, they were regular NVA
They nearly over ran us, at Coral and Balmoral
And when we finally drove them off, there was no victors’ laurel
I came home in the dead of night and they sent me on my way
I wished I had of joined my mates, laying buried in the clay
I drifted as a homeless drunk, no one shed a tear
Until the Salvos dried me out and I found myself in here
A nurse observed this tortured soul as he began to cry
And said “I think that he has had enough, it is time to say goodbye
So thank you for your visit and for listening to what he said”
And she wheeled him quietly sobbing, to the sanctuary of his bed
Tomas ‘Paddy’ Hamilton
12/09/2017
FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam veteran lays a cross to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan at Gallipoli Barracks, Brisbane, 18 August 2016. Original photo by Sergeant Janine Fabre, digitally modified by CONTACT.
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