FREEDOM

i sit here alone tonight.
i watch the rainfall and hear the wind blow.
my family asleep,
i walk
from room to room
watching them.

i hear their breathing.

i go
bed to bed
and kiss each cheek.

my family is my reason for life.
... there is no other.

i walk out on the porch and i listen
to sounds of the past
and sounds of the future.
i hear the drums beating
and sabers rattling,
and i shiver with fear.

i hear the sound of bugles blowing.

sounds of taps.
sound of voices in despair,
and children crying more tears.

i see flags waving
and soldiers marching.

i see explosions and men falling.

i see the flag draped coffins
and the weeping wives
and mothers.

tears fall like rain now.

i see the past and weep for what i lost.
i watch my father die in Laos, and my daddy died
30 years later.

i watch as they die
for freedom
giving their lives
for you
and for me.

i watch as so many died in Vietnam.

i have given my father Three Elks and my daddy GreyEagle
to Vietnam.

must i give my beloved as well?
our clan will be no more.

no memorials
and no processions
just a freezing wind across the desert.

in the wind
you will hear the snapping
of a tattered old flag.
flag covered in our blood
and tears.

in the wind
is the crying of our souls.

this we give
to you
our motherland.
native land in which we
are despised.

we cannot answer freedoms call.
we have no more to give.

you have taken it all.