Lou J. Klaiber

RUN DADDY… RUN!

I slept on the floor
at my grandfather’s house
when the Second World War
came

and my Father never went away.

But some did
……… others
like Brothers
… did.

I didn’t sleep much
because I thought about them.

What are Brothers… anyway?

Father worked every day
and soldiers went away
and I was just a child
holding a flag.

Time came and took me away
… and then it happened!

I saw them all

in the silence
that can only rest beneath the moon
far upon the Pacific
before dawn.

They became my fathers;
those soldiers in arms gone to war
yet now become a part of me and my friends.

I asked them for their names
… and echoes
became choruses
of freedom

for everyone

Who ever died
in vain

… or ever went away
in silence

from all the Fathers
who stayed here
or

there
somewhere

near home.

I cast him away
and the money fell away.

He told me to forget Nam
when I came home.

I told him that Nam will forget me
and never know him.

He said the war was over.
I laughed at him.

I said
‘It has just begun!’

He died in my arms… gasping
“Is it over?”

I held him
and said

“No Father
It has only just begun.”