It’s been more than 30 years since Nam. It’s been about 20 years since the Wall went up, but this is my first time visiting it. Right now, my nephew, Robin, is headed to Kuwait, and probably soon, Iraq, for another war.

I’m sitting in the middle of nowhere, on a hill looking toward the horizon. No tripod, just crossed legs and my elbows resting on my knees, holding an old camera filled with darkroom film.

He carries his equipment
He carries his uniform
He carries his ammunition
And his weapons
But he carries much more
He carries his heart
His memories
Though most importantly
He carries his bandana with Psalm 91 printed on it

A soldier dies on the battlefield on a beach in Normandy just barely old enough to shave and
just off papas knee buried in the ground with theses final words
[Chorus]
Dear ma and pa im doin fine here overseas I send my love from me and John and the

We are all rugged people,
and through out soft degrees.
Many a mean have shouted,
Many have fallen too their knees.
We think we’re at war with others,
But wrong because we are at war
with ourselves,
A war that has long begun

Life to all, the empty promise
I’ve found something new
Take your script and watch it slip through
Cracks so obvious

And we still fight in vain
Who’s the one that wins?
No one’s truly saved
No room left to swim
Life to all, the empty promise

Rain floods the trenches on a cold darkened night,
And the battle drags on. How long must they fight?
Rats grow fat as they feast on the dead.
The constant shell impacts get to the head.
You keep your bayonet close, and your eye on no-man’s-land,

The peace the nations had promised
Some days that were gold
Now all fade into stardust
Disappearing with the old

Yet the Earth shock beneath them
Then the final warning rung
They whom nature condemned
Lost their wings because of the sun

Screams thickened the air,
A scene taken from a nightmare,
Flames licked through the dry grass,
Tribe members pounded the ground, fleeing,
Rifles blasting, the sound deafening,
I hid in my hut,
Peering through the window,