Call From Pyongyang Poem by Michael Pruchnicki

I picked up the phone about eight tonight
and the voice I heard brought to life
those cold nights in North Korea

After all these years it seemed like we
were back in that barracks in Pyongyang
shivering and waiting for dawn

A summer on the Naktong in South Korea
had brought us in time to this stone building
in the capital of North Korea

We were looking forward to victory and Xmas
back in Japan after this adventure
but the Chinese in Manchuria

had other plans in mind that night
and we paid the price as soldiers
in the pay of our republic

He talked of his kids, grown now,
and on their own. I bragged a bit
about a son and daughter

making their way in a world
full of opportunity and joy
a far cry from death on Xmas Eve!