POEM: “Operation Babylift”
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“Operation Babylift”
Flight plan from Agent Orange
and unfriendly fire, the war torn
to new homes stateside
its first flight
airlifting from Vietnam
the orphaned ones
their parents lost too soon
too soon
too soon to see them grow up
instead strapped in carriers
on airplane seats,
the innocent ones witness
not new homes in a new land
but fuselage
breaking
burning
the rice paddy skid
the soft meets hard
flesh and metal and pliant plant life burning
burning
burning
the dam breaking
drowning waters and unfurling flames
the damn breaking apart
the smoking metal skeleton
the smoking
the
the fragile lives lost
their legacy
their memory
their deaths
fading
fading
fading
lost to time
who remembers the orphans now?
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Thank you for visiting my blog. If you would like to read more about the inspiration (as well as the construction) of this poem, this week’s Patreon post may be of interest to you! For as little as $1 a month–less than a cup of tea–you get more of my work: fiction, non fiction, product reviews, and other goodies as well. Until next time, have a lovely week!
*image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net via Creative Commons Universal License.
