RIVER OF TEARS 

By Mike Bridwell

IT HAS BEEN 25 YEARS
AND A RIVER OF TEARS,
SINCE THE LAST GOLD STAR MOM
LOST HER SON IN VIET NAM.

BUT MEMORIES STILL LAST,
MOST WON'T TALK WHEN ASKED
ABOUT THE WAR WE LOST
AT FAR TOO GREAT A COST.

MANY HAD NEVER BEEN FAR FROM HOME
UNTIL THEY WOUND UP IN A FREE FIRE ZONE,
HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD ALONE
THEY REALIZED THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

THEY PROUDLY REPRESENTED THE HOME OF THE BRAVE,
THOUGH MOST HAD JUST BEGUN TO SHAVE.
THEY ANSWERED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'S CALL,
SO THEIR ALLIES FREEDOM WOULD NOT FALL.

THEY FOUGHT FROM SAIGON 
TO THE DMZ.
THOUSANDS WERE KILLED 
BY AN ENEMY THEY COULD NOT SEE.

THIS WAR WASN'T FOUGHT
LIKE THE ONES ON TV.
LAND MINES, SNIPERS AND BOOBY TRAPS
WERE THE TOOLS OF THE ENEMY.

THE LUCKY ONES RETURNED HOME IN A YEAR
AND THOUGHT THEY HAD NO MORE TO FEAR.
MOST WERE VERY YOUNG AND BELIEVED,
THE NATION'S THANKS THEY WOULD RECEIVE.

BUT THE NATION TURNED THEIR BACKS
ON THESE BRAVE MEN.
MOST WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

THEY HAD DONE THEIR DUTY
NO MATTER WHAT THE COST,
BUT THEY SHOULDERED THE BLAME
BECAUSE THE WAR WAS LOST.

SO THEIR STORY WAS NEVER TOLD
THEY LOCKED IT INSIDE.
THEY HAD SURVIVED THE WAR,
BUT THEIR IDEALS HAD DIED.

THESE MEN LEARNED A LESSON
IN THAT FOREIGN LAND.
THEY LEARNED THE GREATEST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS,
LOVE THY FELLOW MAN.

FOR IF THE WORLD WOULD HEED GOD'S HOLY WORD
THE SOUNDS OF SUFFERING AND WAR
WOULD NEVER BE HEARD.

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