After the Storm
And so the stormy sea subsides,
But leaves its frothy tongues askew
On littered beach I wander 'bout
And look for something new.
Flotsam here and
jetsam there
Are what's left to remind
Of tempest’s rage, and sailor’s cries
On ships that left the land behind.
I kick at drifts
and frothy clumps
But nothing do I find
Of valiant sailors on the sea,
To ease my troubled mind.
The Sailors of
the Sea of Life
I want again to see.
Their voyage wrecked, their cargo lost,
Their loss a part of me.
On littered
beach there’s one who seeks
The answers lost in time
But what I seek is Vietnam
And, Comrades that were mine.
No Trace I find
on battered shores
Of Friends lost long ago
Nor do I find the answers
To pain that plagues me so.
I wade in frothy
tongues to seek
The wisdom of the Sea
And Answer just one question:
Why them and why not me?
Copyright 2003,William Norman Janes, Sr. All Rights Reserved
Click here to view a video of this poem read by the author
International War Veterans' Poetry Archives
