Poem for my Father on Veterans' Day
by Tim Burke

I still can't believe you survived,
Dad. Because you did, I'm alive.
I mean, kamikazis strafing, the fires on deck,
The Hornet is going down, shrapnel lodged
Forever in your back. Still
You floated through the afternoon
As the bombing kept the sharks at bay
Until another ship picked you up.

Then some time for R&R cut short
As your unit left for Guadalcanal,
Okinawa, Bougainville and Guam.
Finally you came home.

Usually free on Fridays anyway,
I forgot today was Veterans' Day
Until I tried the door at the Post Office
And found it locked, so I walked
Over to Monmouth Street and there
Beside the Police Department
A small gathering in front of a WW I monument
Was remembering American servicemen
From all the wars we've had so far.

A two-star general, soon to be promoted,
Was being introduced by the head
Of the local American Legion post.
When he stepped up to speak in that
Raw cold sun of mid-November, he said
He'd finished college in 1963 – six years
Ahead of me – but he seemed so old – so
Many shaves in helmetsfull of cold water,
Perhaps. He cut short his 12-page speech –
Just said something about a young man
On a train who wanted to shake his hand –
And returned the mic to the emcee who announced
That the bugler from the local high school band
Must be lost so we'd hear "Taps" and a 21-gun salute
From JFK's funeral, on tape, but
There was also a problem with that – we
Never learned what – and the man from the Legion
Said that concludes our program.

I kept my spot
And watched the chilly women
Get up out of folding chairs
The town had provided them with.
One woman had gotten up, I should add,
And sung America the Beautiful, beautifully.
As she sang I watched two old vets salute
And pray over one of the arrangements
Of chrysanthemums when a man
Approached and asked me if I'd pay two bucks
For a pin to support the Vietnam Memorial
Construction project, which I did. It seemed
The least I could do. I should – or could –
had died in Nam if I'd gone, 25 years ago,
But I played my asthma/Dr. DeGerome card
And stayed home.

Now the crowd's disappearing. A few
Have stopped to shake the general's hand.
I wonder if I should have stepped forward
And said I'd hum "Taps" when I learned
There'd be none played. But these veterans
Have heard it many times
And I am not one of them.