OPAT

Oh OPAT

What have you done

With Audey and York

Pershing too

You DQed the heroes

And now we have none

OPAT

Oh OPAT

What about the rest?

Grant and Chamberlain

Infantry strong

But alas

They never passed the test

OPAT

Oh OPAT

What can I do now?

I ship next week

So I ran hard and strong

So much so 

I fell on the ground

I read the words over and over

What did they mean?

An online video seemed to fit

Or was that just for me?

Explosions, destruction

The tattered corpses lie down

A part of the landscape

Soon forgotten 

As the Army moves around

But what for reality

Sitting in a waiting room

08.00, 09.00, 10.00

Maybe they forgot me this time

11.00, 12.00, 13.00

Recruiter went to my high school

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork

Did you lie?

Did I?

Fear of a thousand lies I never told

Found out and my family is in the cold

Sworn in?

Maybe.

14.00, 14.30

Things start to happen

The War in my Head may come yet

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork

Did you lie?

Did I?

Did I lie?

Did I forget?

Did I miss something?

Speak now?

Of what?

Damn I'm too old for this

And sat we did tonight

Taking our food from white china

Our crudeness filled the air

Ladies and gentlemen

Once students

Now the new generation to go to war

The servers and guests look in disgust

We are the noble savage

Respected in our cause

Lowly in our very being

Waiting at the station

The cattle are herded in

Weeks of proper grooming

They smile and laugh 

Then their handlers arrive

"Haha you fools"

Let the tenderizing begin

Where did the youth go?

It was left at the door

Bend over

Be prodded

"You volunteered for this."

Right

For service

A high honor

Let the punishments begin

Unwashed hands

Contractors and the penal brigade

Nobody wants the job

Take it out on those who can't say no

Remember to not rape

Remember not to rape

Put the signs everywhere

Destroy happiness and forget the honor

Forward March

Eating the last crumb

What a bum

Went to college

Never had a mortgage

Rent was due days ago

Parents were buried deep below

You liar and cheat

Wishing for a work week

The baby is crying

Daddy wishes he was dying

Broken, more or less shattered

We are torn from a past of glory

Protests for peace and love

Replaced by ferocious hate

An animal who once had no home

Where are romance and spirit?

They must be in a grave

Held in the hands of the child

The dead offspring of hope

Buried in Wall Street or Baghdad

Can we at last have a meal

And pay for the rent?

The machine says we’re free

Most of us happily employed

Broken and broke, freedom a lie

Where has the wisdom gone?

It must be in that fresh grave

Shot dead by ignorance

Killed in a fit of unbridled rage

His shaking hand then cast a ballot

And we are all broken even more

Maybe still a day will come

When a man can have a dream

Everyone can dream that dream

And wisdom can be a phoenix

Until the ash settles, no spirit can rise

When that day comes

And the children sing instead of cry

We will all be broken no more

The people walk by the window

It is summer and the flowers bloom

Time to run free

To find short term lovers

A young man finds beauty

And he steals it

Only in summer he uses it

Plucks it from its bed

She laughs and says he's the one

But then one day he's gone

And the seasons change

Poet or Artist

You whisper in my ear

No matter the weather

Shall I pick up the pen

Or today the brush

You, my muse

Guide my hand

I embody your desires

I listen to your whims

Follow them and I may die

Ignore them and I may suffer

May I be free one day

Free to be as all the rest

Who wonder without a care

Alas no I will not love

Such a life is not worth to be

To be called such a word

Life is turbulent

Life is cruel

Life is always alive

Suffering, that is life

Love, that is life

Never would I be alive

Without you my sweet muse

Haunting my sleep

With flutters of fantasy

And a taste of ecstasy

Where I am to be alone

Then awake and on the street

You follow me there as well

Separating me from the flocks

Please my muse

Never leave my side

Even if I should die

I will not fear it

The suffering is always worth the while

No it is not denial I sense in my own words

But the truth of a poet, an artist

The only ones alive.

You were once the skived leather textbook

Telling me tales of the past that was

A war long forgotten and far away

Teaching me how my mind was able to look

And eyes were merely a window to the present

A worn out old cowboy 

Showing me how to survive

On your journey to the distant pasture

Sometimes now I remember your lessons

And count them among my life's blessings

Maybe it's not written clearly

A little foggy in my head

I tried to get the pain to flow

But alas everyone is dead

Please forgive my prose this time

It really is not about me

Time and time again try

But happy words are easy lies