“In all Things Give Thanks...”

Spending time together to rejoice and be glad
and eating, smiling, joking with people not of my choice

thrust into a time bottle of short lived remembrance
no position or rank

they wished for kissing girls to just say
how beautiful they are day after day

in dreamscapes of unvanquished youth
scorned by some at home for a rightful war

we’ve come from afar
for a time to be what we are
chatting and bragging about lonely nights

to talk freely amongst men with a
slight bit of fear in the eyes

of dreams unfulfilled in the clutter
of smoke and roadside bombs
and ambush

The Chaplain says Mass in the outdoor
under the morning calm and blazing

hearts yearning for a delayed answer
hope, faith, and love
to protect me from harm

Hello’s and Goodbyes race past the crowded room
smelling of a patrol

dirt, sweat, and grime mixed with a hot dog and fries
it’s the little pleasures in life that matters

Under this tent we meet and gather once more
to pay homage and remember our friends

the same as we did in the neighborhood store
outside we watched to see what life would present

We then bowed our heads in silent prayer,
you could hear a pin drop and an occasional round
gunfire in our far away home

Give me peace and thoughts till end of tour
when most of the complaining and crying
will turn to thanks

boarding a plane for the wanderers to return
he’s my brother and he is heavy
but he cares in the heat of battle
or a deadly surprise

We’ll forget ourselves
and put chance and soul in our thanks


Copyright © 2007 by Myles Saulibio