Nam's Unmourned Poem by Adeline Foster
Nam's Unmourned
They suffer most whose memory
Cannot let pain die,
Who in the night their misery
Becomes an endless cry,
Whose sheer desire to kill the pain
Creates each day anew
A pain upon the pain that was
Until the first they knew
Becomes an open raw abyss
Rending heart and soul;
Until the caldron's smouldering hiss
Overflow the bowl.
They conquer last whose war has left
On victor's distant shore
A suffering mass who don the past,
Reliving o'er an o'er
The sword thrust in the mud and dust,
Brave hope abandoned there.
For some return only to learn
The empty shell they bear
Will ever echo to the blast
Of that sojourn in hell.
Bearing home the Trojan germ
Of miasma for their knell.*
These, who know death yet walk away
And are transported home
To live each endless night and day
The corpse they can't become
These prisoners in a searing breast,
Alone in surging throng,
Who cry out for relief and yet
Lay not aside the wrong,
Now clutch at pain they can't forget
Words to describe unknown.
The memory in each suffering heart
Is his and his alone.
*Miasma: noxious odors from decaying matter,
once thought to cause infection.
I still remember the Hell called Viet Nam, but at least I survived to read such wonderful poetry like that which you create - Thanks Miss Adeline
A wonderful tribute to those who returned home only to leave a part of themselves dead and dying in Vietnam. Thanks for the invitation to read it.
Yes, Adeline, there are worse things than death, and that is those vets who pray for death to take them from the miserable shells they inhabit due to the rages of war on their bodies and minds. We talk about the death toll in every war, but what about the incredible number of fractured souls who survived with permanent disabilities, and worse, PTSD? Where do they belong - with the living or the dead? Powerful poem on a subject that we must all open our eyes to sooner or later. Linda
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/26/2024 11:22:13 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Can't help but being empathetic for the agonising afterlife of those who had seen it all. Not nearly so, yet belonging to the same profession, I can well imagine the pain & suffering. Can't understate, how well you have portrayed their suffering. Thank you again for the share. Need I say a 10/10?