I Understand
Answer to "A Soldier's Lament"

Brother, I heard your silent prayer
How can I make you not despair?
What can I do to dry your tears,
And bring you comfort through the years?

I'd rather you didn't feel such shame
Whenever you reflect upon my name.
I know how you feel, because you see
The very same thing had happened to me.

I never spoke to you of another
Whom I had adopted as a brother.
He got killed a year before we met,
In an offensive known as Tet.

I too felt the guilt and shame
And never once could speak his name.
I know how it feels to be faced with years
Of holding back the flow of tears.

It wasnt until I ceased to live
That I realized there's nothing to forgive.
We met in Heaven, and he took my hand,
And said, "You're human, don't you understand?

So go my brother on your way,
And don't look back except to say
We met, we joked, we laughed, we cried,
And God decreed who lived or died. "

©George J. Luther
1-16-04