American Requiem
(Praise! Honor!
Glory!)
Jungle: 2 am: “Saddle up! Ten minutes! You’re ready!”
City: 8 pm:
Phone: “Meet at City Hall! Stay steady.”
Conscripted from
school, uniformed then offered a rifle
Injustice-taught;
excuses practiced-sought; fault-stifle
Discipline-exact!
Training-true! Patriotic-courage Proud-found!
Mob-rule chaos! “Herd”-mentality
wild! Cadence hate-chant sound!
“Green”-bees
off-key sing: “Death seeks you!”
Night cold-horror black!
Blue-line holds!
Shield bottle-rocks! Windows-shatter! Inventory-sack!
Adrenaline
secures slight fright as I send red-racers killing-fire
Disrespect: Law!
Man! Myself! Complicit-“Lie” media-conspire
Grey smoke
clears, dust settles; I find my buddy stone-cold shot-dead
Violent-curse free country; burn red-white-blue flag;
complain instead
Full-throttle,
flaps-down, catapult-thrust silver war-bird o’er sea-waves
This criminal fractures same law “free-speech” my bacon handy-saves
Joe
College-Cool
atheist-avowed---Green-tracers close? “Dear
Lord-God!”
Immune-excused!
Irresponsible-Immature simply innocent-naïve
smile-nod
Desert-sand
scours white teeth as another revolution-despot makes moot point
“Under arrest?”
Said scum-cop, handcuffed, he
purposely crushed my weed-joint
Filled black body-bags
C-130 cargo-hold like cordwood military-stacked
So very angry I
might lie though I may not know why;
I just feel “hacked”
Soldier’s mother
answers cold knock-thud---fainted…forever despair-cry ever after
Protest!?
My
right. Obey-the-law!? No-respect! I
offer Hate-speech ugly-laughter
Echo
hollowed-halls “Royal-elite” empty silk-suit smirking-liar king
Votes-purchased
insane surreptitious defiled-web forked-tongue sing
Hero-true worthy
value-virtue Love give life for
friend a sacred thing
Shackle justice holy
Constitution-“plan”; Lie reverent-truth vacant ring
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Allelu---u…ia!
Amen!---Amen!...Amen!
Plus:
Day 285
Candy covers her
head with a tissue to
go to Mass to
see her “man”
Thanksgiving
Eve, 1964, I was cruising down Main Street in our little town and spied this
little-cutie sashaying down the
Boulevard in the chill evening air; I had seen Miss Candy around town, at
least, a time or two, over the years; tonight was my chance---and…I struck! Hmm!
Pulling
over to the curb (I recall the exact spot even to this day) and rolled down the
passenger-window. “Would you like a ride on a cold night?” I inquired as Cool as James Bond.
Must
have been a pretty good imitation---because…she got right in and slid right
over.
She
had once “teased” me way back yonder when I was a “tender” 12 and had just
taken the entrance test for the seminary to study for the priesthood. (Yeah!
Really!) I was cutting down a tree for my Grandma on her property line and
pretty brown-eyed Candy had moseyed down the side street adjacent to me and had
yelled across the garden, “Don’t hurt yourself! Big Boy!”
Wow!
I couldn’t believe such a sophisticated beauty had ventured to speak to me!?
Hmm!
So,
a bit later, we became “good” friends. I attended Midnight Mass each Christmas
Eve at the Catholic Church in town, even served mass on most holiday
celebrations; Candy found out about my vigil-exploits and came to that mass one
festival-eve Learning that Catholic girls covered their heads when in
attendance of mass, she bobby-pinned a white Clean-X to her head.
She
did just fine with her surreptitious
endeavor to see “her man”, but, I wasn’t at the mass!
If she had not
tried to surprise me and let me know she would be there---I would have been.
Well!
Let’s see now? Oh! Yeah! We managed to get together---just fine…for 54 years!
Ah! Cookie Jar Sweet “What was I praying for?”
Memories!
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