29 MAR 12

Welcome Home ...
Somehow, someplace, someone
decided
that today would be,
"Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Day."
I'm not opposed ...
but I came home from that war
44
years
ago.

I then, again, went away ...
remained in the army.
Saw a bit of the world on
Uncle Sam's dime.

Got to sample ...
sushi in Japan,
wurst in Germany,
pasta in Italy,
mussels in France,
Porter in England.
Swam in ...
the Sea of Japan
the Tyrannian Sea,
the Balearic Sea,
the Bay Of Biscay.
Crossed ...
the English Channel
and the North Atlantic.
Spent an hour on Wake Island,
a week in Hawaii.
Walked the beaches of Normandy.
Drove the Furka Pass Road.
Ate lunch at a hut on the flank
of the Kline Matterhorn.

Returned home, a time or two,
amidst all of that travel
but home was never again
the place it once was.
Time and circumstance ...
friends moved on,
people died.
The home I'd known
slowly faded away.
And now ...
it's all gone.
Thomas Wolfe had it right.

-Fini

PS:
Found out that today's date was chosen because
it is the date of the official end of U.S.
involvement in the Vietnam War.
(Should've done my homework.)