Gary Jacobson will read Veterans Day poetry live

Honor Veterans Day
New poems and a couple oldie but goodie poems
email me at: knights_lance1@yahoo.com
Put on your ears for "America the Beautiful,"

Gary Jacobson will read Veterans Day poetry live
on Satellite radio, "Firebase Veteran's Hour,"
SUNDAY, November 6
Please join me by clicking
http://www.stardustent.com/
Please tune in, and happy listening!
BROADCAST TIME WILL BE according to where you live:
7:00 to 8:00 PM Eastern Time Zone...
6:00 to 7:00 PM Central Time Zone...
5:00 to 6:00 PM Mountain Time zone,..
4:00 to 5:00 PM Pacific Time Zone ...  
please listen according to the time zone in your location.
Listening is really quite simple ...
Please tune in to the program
Please pass on this info to vets,
email lists, friends and neighbors.

November 5-12, I will be in Branson, Missouri for a welcome home extravasgasnza where for that week the whole town gives to Vietnam Vets the welcome home we did not get when we returned home from that little southeast Asian war. With all my heart I thank them!

   My Vietnam foxhole buddies and I will be at a free concert by Tony Orlando, at the Welk Theater, famed for his song "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree," and also attend a patriotic concert by the Oakridge Boys.

Gary
Honor Veterans Day ...
by Gary Jacobson © November 2011

Honor Veterans Day
Honor the beloved memory
of those who are, or have served in the military
even Warriors who gave their all
... for us.
Who paid the ultimate sacrifice
... for us

So, please, honor past and present soldiers beloved memory
Give tribute to their unexcelled bravery
Honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice
brothers, fathers, sons, friends, loved ones
who rolled the fated dice
Who gave beloved life
For they loved their country more than life
Patriotic spirit's burning within patriot heart's rife
Preserving our sweet liberty
Borne beyond great honor in duty
In honored dignity
... for us
Remember these brave warriors who gave their all
Standing brave and standing tall
... for us.

For us they paid a suffering debt
May we never forget...
Really, May we never forget...
To cherish freedoms they gave us without regret.
To make our liberty and freedom stand for something
With Star Spangled remembrance loudly sing
May our freedom bell's with proud joy ring...
That can be heard from heaven's celestial ramparts
To light a fire in your hearts
Enough to warm the very face of God
Bring eternal peace to America's greening sod.


My Lovely Sandbag Bunker Condo

On the South China Sea
by Gary Jacobson © May 2011


Oh that Sandbag bunker Condo

On the South China Sea

Where every day I blow a kiss

To my baby across that heartbreak sea from me

May it remain forever in its bliss

Its good times in the worst of times memory remiss

That lovely-awful-horrid to this day haunts me

In daily memory torments me desperately



Doing my best impersonation of Rambo

In my lovely Sandbag bunker Condo

Oh, lonely me

On the South China Sea

Its sandbag roof repels pesky grenades right handily

Raining down like the monsoon rain

Bringing their own kind of eternal pain

With their sweet-and-sour sing-song

Those friendly Vietcong

Who would never ever do you no wrong?

.

Watching azure blue waves going in and out

Makes me wish to this day I too could go out

To escape the bullet with my name on it

Outside the wire just hangin' about

It don't mean nuthin', that ol' metal shard

Waiting on the other side of a solemn desert spread

To the jungle beyond the graveyard

Where eternal shadows embed

Wait to deliver my fate

This cannon fodder GI just so much bait.



I laugh and I cry when I think of LZ Betty

Fondly of its dinky dau life so gritty

Where I laughed … and I wait

For intemperate spirits irate

That wish me harm

Every fiber of being sounding the alarm

The primal scream

My death a bad dream

Over and over and over

Till its over…



Ballad to Brave Patriots
by Gary Jacobson © May 2011


Hark the brave patriot who hears noble clarion call

Trumpeting each generation to arms for all
Aye, therewith men gone anon to wrong aright

Thro murky shadow of day come night

Peradventure to shed dear life's precious blood

Alack, mayhap, betwixt thwack and thud

Running hither and thither in wild and angry wood

Twixt desert and gnarled forest for the brotherhood.



Homeland fat-cats rattle bloody sabers to exhort

Purring from their perches on high to evildoers thwart

By 'their' good will to brave and true men life abort

Thus does war life's perplexity numb

Sullying war's reputation with M-16 staccato rhythm

Pounding the killing's gawd-awful disdain

Prithee, in 'their' words echo the awful refrain

To forevermore reverberate in wearied brain.



O what courage tis erelong met in marry bravery

Bravely true values bemired in miscreant insanity

Their philosophy besmirched by mischief's knavery

Egad, betimes the froward enemy

Be he swarthy or looking just like me

Tis red-stained by guns rock-and-roll jungle beat

Still seeing heinous oppressors shadow in fervid heat

Yet still envisioning soldiers destined to defeat.



We Boys sent to rid the world of the villainous ilke

To bear reason in truth to sweet-and-sour silk

Twill find death abounding like spilt milk

For once gone, you cannot get life back

So flying black horses on helicopters attack

Hard Corps men through verdant jungles hack

Waging relentless whencesoever yon

For tis said the righteous carry on…

But the righteous will die as well as the others...

Facing the fated sword with brothers.



Alas, the world, exceeding rife with serial war

War that good men say they abhor

Waged from antiquity beforetime

War advocated yet today in many a sweltering clime

With immortal correctness bombs and guns waging

Virtuous goodness thru the muck dragging

Their right supported by champion's spiritual

Their sooth defended by the supernal moral

Verily, embracing war for worth intellectual

Right or wrong…

Wars deadly song..


Vets, I Wonder How You're Feeling                                                            
by Gary Jacobson © May 2011

Oh men of yore…

Fresh come from times of war

I wonder how you're feeling

As the planet keeps on reeling

On a time machine rocket blast from the past

Will our time from war forever last?



War's still ringing in my ears

Still hiding from dreaming fears

Naïve boys playing with destructive toys

Naïve girls giving the world a whirl

Waiting for the boys

Waiting for the boys.



Oh men of yore from the time of war…

Remember where boys were forever lost

By the cruel war tempest tossed

Lost in dying days forever changing

Body and mind rearranging…

The grand upheaval contending with evil.



War's calamity sends

Where forever blow the wicked winds

Turning values upside down

Hard to bear through the evil frown

Search for that winning boyish smile

From eternities back across the pond's heartbreak mile.



So how are you today?

How are you today?

A

A COMBAT SOLDIER'S PRAYER
by Gary Jacobson © 1999 (distibuted by the American Legion)
http://namtour.com/prayer.html

This combat soldier's prayer,
Who has served his time in Hell,
Is may we learn the lessons of war well,
That we not doom future generations,
The same old tales of horror to tell,
To endure what in youth they see mistakenly as glory.
Oh God, do not let our children
Repeat the same old story.

Make it so that America's babies live to grow old
In this land of the free and the bold.
Help us throw off the shackles of hate that bind
And grow old in a life of a peaceful kind.

Teach us that there is no glory in war,
Nor honor there that brave men should not abhor.
Teach us instead, one for another our brothers to love.
Shower us with thine Celestial message from above,
That we plant seeds of peace evermore
And make war-no-more!

But if I should die on some far, far away battlefield
Know I answered the call
For a grand principle of freedom to yield.
My fervent prayer is that death
May not have been in vain
Fighting for peace and right for the world to attain.

My brothers, American roses standing by my side
On alien soil dying
In the summer of my youthful pride
All the leaves around me falling.

Now I'm lying here still, in sunshine and in shadow,
Longing to hear, "brother next door, I love you so."
For moldering in the soft ground below,
I feel you living and loving in the world above me
Standing tall because I fought that you might be...
Oh look ye down now,
And tell me you still think of me
Honor my red blood, spilt that others might stand free.

Tell me that I did not give my all for you in vain
That brothers and sisters do not look upon my sacrifice
With hateful,
Or even worse,
Uncaring disdain.

Do not forget me when my valley's hushed
And white with snow,
Grass growing green in the summer of my meadow
Help me see the peace I lived and died for grow.

Make my lonely grave richer,
Sweeter be...
Make this truly,
"The land of the free
And the home of the brave,"
I gave my life to save
That I might too, lie eternally,
Forever free...


~Honoring A Noble Warriors Life~
Who Made A Difference
by Gary Jacobson © 2001
http://namtour.com/noblewarriortaps.html

Play last taps over a noble warrior's sacred grave
Now gone before, the better way to pave
From the hall's of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli
Over hill, over dale, blazing the shadow of death's victory
Comforted are we,
This valiant spirit has now found rebirth
For he tirelessly toiled in war's hells on earth.

His destiny lies where the sound of guns are heard no more
Enter now that Holiest door to heaven's celestial shore
Reserved for those who gave all standing hickory tall
For family, hearth and home fighting the good fight
Resisting opponents of right with fists of valorous might
Who lived and died for liberty
That all mankind might breathe eternally free

Proud wave his bold legacy
Great courage in greater bravery
A heroes heritage in honored history
Hear this patriotic life story
A stouthearted tradition of faith and loyalty
Revered duty to truth his gallant birthright
With zeal sworn our nation's brightest light

Winds whispering of Divine peace in God's kingdom
Blow softly over hallowed grave of a leader of freedom
O'er a man who more than self his country loved
Who madmen's wrongs in this wide world righted
Who peace on earth so diligently fought for
Who for a consecrated flag, arms he bore
Whenever duty called, always marching to the fore

We will never forget him...
Metered with Pure patriotism's dignity
Answering that clarion call to sacred beings infinity
Head held proudly high with an eagles steely gaze
On ascent to heaven, herald angels triumphant glory raise
Singing of life's many deeds worthy of praise
For him stalwartly true to his beliefs abode all his days

A warrior's death, is only a warrior to higher slopes moving his camp
Strategically to higher ground, free from mortality's dews and damp
Moving to a position more defendable to protect divinity's face
To a sacred place near the Master's grace
No more to suffer a warriors tired and weary bones
Immortal healing free from life's slings and arrows atones

Now he's free at last from earthly toil and pain
Heaven's richest blessings to this valiant warrior ordain
Who smiled in the face of fear with disdain
Opposing madmen to the suffering of others cavalier
Standing as a worthy barrier to make life for others easier
Family, friends and country in devotion protecting
Inalienable rights guarding

Celebrate now the life of father, brother, son exalted
All hail his life true to values precepts honored
Who powers of mortal evil with his good right arm abated
Pass now into arms of brothers again reunited
Into the arms of beloved family on the other shore waiting
For this soldier's very being embodied giving
Who left this world a better place for his living...

The Last Firebase

Read the poem online: http://namtour.com/firebase.html
by Gary Jacobson © April 2008

My troubled warrior's heart does race
At the black granite wall of the last firebase
With silently primal hue and shout
With enfeebled voice, I reach out...
Connecting with heroes who've fallen all
58,000 names carved on a black granite wall
American heroes who now watch eternal vigils
Patriot angels ... these fallen eagles...

Hell yes, I deeply care...
For that's my brother, over there...

I too was torn from that jungle hell-hole
This black polished wall reflects images of my soul
Beside American heroes here at the last firebase
It's myself I face...
Remembering times when I lost the boy
Xin loi...
Refreshing faded memories I will never forget
Joining here with brothers I can never forget

Tears streak my eye
As I remember Vietnam where I too almost die...
Suffering broken bones and open veins in anguished rage
My spirit in bitter violence on war's daunting page
Held captive by fear and death and guilt lo many a year
Emotive memories shared at this wall's sacred bier
Learn the lessons of horrible tragedy of traumatic war
Establish healing closure that peace will restore.

Here at the wall greet 58,000 brother warriors
Mankind's saviors
Who paid the ultimate sacrifice
Who in the midst of battle's rage rolled fateful dice
Who humped the park over Nam's knife blade bridge
Twixt life "n" death on a razor's cutting edge
Able killing brother Cain in days of the carbine
Reminisce of times in hell when we walked the line...

Now at this wall I unashamedly cry
Arm-in-arm with brothers, I still ask why?
It's not my name carved on that wall
Beside that righteous army still standing tall...
Beside 58.000 fathers, brothers, sisters, son
Still lost in the land of the gun...
Here I covenant to crown their good
With brotherhood....

Hell yes, I deeply care...
For that's my brother, over there...

Honor dear comrades whose spirits the wall entomb
Whose mortal husk war's flames did consume
Cry with buddies who died in that damned war
To assuage oppression's injustice bore
Relive memories where we all wagered life
With blood-brothers who lost theirs in hellfire's strife
By the fates their example on our heart's still burning
Forever for the light of right still yearning...

Look deep into that polished wall, for it holds martyrs
Carpenters, welders, bakers, warriors...
Shut out the memory of death's final screams
Embrace their final resting place of hell-borne dreams
Give honor in homage truly
To soldiers of the wall who did precisely
What their country asked them to do exactly
Who now wear a purple heart courage badge proudly.

Remember the price we all did pay
On that gruesome hot hell of a day
Fighting leaches, two step adders and the Cong
In a place where somehow ... I still belong.
But it's not over yet
Though in this soldier's heart wells a deep sense of debt
Many went away for a long time, trying to forget
Lost in the world haunted by memorial regret...

But now, here at this hallowed wall, I'm back
Though memory of days of violence my nights wrack...
Commune with brother's spirits here blowin' in the wind
Feel the weight of them on your shoulders, friend
March again with men of the last patrol
With men of the last firebase on rock-and-roll...
I'll never go away again ... I'm back
Welcome home brothers! It's good to be back...

Will the circle be unbroken
Will these 58,000 brothers the spirit awaken
For together again, we are they ... and they are we...
Touch brothers here, under an ethereal sky
Circle beside them, red, white, black, yellow, brown
Wearing the victor's crown
As I stand here ... I'm not alone...
Oh no, I've come home!

Hell yes, I deeply care...
For that's my brother, over there...
****


Spirits In The Wind
http://namtour.com/spirits.html
see the poem with more pictures and music.

Spirits In The Wind
by Gary Jacobson © July 2000

Talk to the wall...
Touch it, with heartfelt tears after all
Feel soft stillness of peace enthrall
Reach out,
Reach through sacred silence all about
Touch the shadowed inner man
Caress in fondness, finally understand
His ethereal manifestation
Revered spiritual incarnation
Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Feel a brother's hand
On your shoulder friend.

Put a red rose under a buddies name...
Feeling guilt in sobered shame
Lean your head against that holy bier
Rivers of tears your weeping heart sear,
Whisper the ageless question why
Unashamedly cry
Why did you live, and he have to die?
Why did a brother have to taste of death
A valiant soldier's life blood dearth
Brave the warrior's final heroic breath?

Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Their sacred message tend
Spread to all the world to send
As you wonder with wearied guilt
Comfort pouring over you like water spilt
Feel the spirits of courageous men
Which writers pen.
Brothers who suffered hard knocks
In war's staggering din...
Now of life bereft
For whom a nation wept.
As hot days in "the Nam" you recall
Touch blackened granite covering honored
Battalions all.
Why is your name not beside brothers
Etched on that honored wall?
Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Emotions from "the world" transcend
The very air breathes honors to all
Reverently touch the black cloaked pall
That special place on the consecrated wall
Battle again those who rights of others rend
Another's freedoms with your life defend
Extend a hand to the downtrodden
Once more in honor to lend
On buddies guarding your back
Again depend.
Once again mingle
With brothers to the manner born
For days of grandest horror mourn.

Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Comrades until time itself does end
United again in a moment of holy sacrament
To fight for right self evident
To stand for freedom again
Again to righteously defend!
Spirit and soul with brothers attend
Ministering spirits of light and darkness
Gather round the warrior host's essence
An old soldier's heart to the wall commend
As spirits of warrior brothers blend.
****
My two books:

My Thousand Yard Stare

Beaucoup poetry with over two hundred full color pictures and graphics in this book of my comrades-in-arms, the 1st Air Cavalry, with other unit battle pictures, 101st Aireborne, The Marines, the Wolfhounds, The Americal, The Big Red One, The 9th, the Mekong Delta Riverine ... this book tells the story in poem of the emotions and feelings of a grunt at war, in words that make us remember. If you weren't in fact there, this poetry will give  emotions and feelings of a combat infantryman to make you feel like you were right there walking beside me in combat. It will give an appreciation of the great and terrible sacrifices made by brothers and sisters in war. These are sweet and sour poems of combat against evil found in war, both on the battle front and plaguing my mind. They tell of the devastation, the heartache, the fears, the struggles with the supernal against the devil, rife with wrong and right besetting from all sides, the immorality of the inhumanity of men towards men, the turning upside down of values. They deal with hatreds and the killing, death all around, the dying deeply profound... the wounding of the spirit so telling as to leave an eternal hole in the soul deficit.

Buy "Just A Walk In The Park," or "My Thousand Yard Stare." instantly at, http://namtour.com/marketplace.html with the security and ease of PayPal or your choice of credit cards.

Or buy directly:

Gary Jacobson, 6325 south Old Hwy 191, Malad, Idaho 83252
Just A Walk In The Park

A novel packed with beaucoup memoirs, blended with facts happening to myself, or soldiers just over the hill ... with 150 color pictures of Nam combat.
    These were times that defined men's souls; times that set the foundation and tenor for all life to come, eternally affecting our FOREVER, as well as generations of lives surrounding our life. Vietnam was our delineating moment, after which, in Shakespeare's words, "Life is but a walking shadow."
This book will thrill you with heart-stopping action, fear and danger ... death floating in sweet-and-sour air ... but then, you don't want to live forever, do you? You do ... how quaint!

Gary
Gary Jacobson
Webmaster of "Vietnam Picture Tour,"
http://namtour.com/namtour.html A walk in "the park" grunts called Vietnam, with the 1st Air Cavalry on combat patrol. Experience chilling reality to leave the sweet and sour taste of "the Nam" pungent on your tongue, the smell of "the Nam" acrid in your nostrils, and textures of "the Nam" imbedded in you as though you were walking beside me in combat.

My poignant poems directory, pictures and artwork to show the essence and feeling of war on young "boys next door," http://namtour.com/nampoemsNpix.html

"Realm Of Poetry,"
Honor Veterans Day
New poems and a couple oldie but goodie poems
email me at: knights_lance1@yahoo.com
Put on your ears for "America the Beautiful,"
 
Gary Jacobson will read Veterans Day poetry live
on Satellite radio, "Firebase Veteran's Hour,"
SUNDAY, November 6
Please join me by clicking
http://www.stardustent.com/
Please tune in, and happy listening!
BROADCAST TIME WILL BE according to where you live: 
7:00 to 8:00 PM Eastern Time Zone...
6:00 to 7:00 PM Central Time Zone... 
5:00 to 6:00 PM Mountain Time zone,.. 
4:00 to 5:00 PM Pacific Time Zone ...  
please listen according to the time zone in your location.
Listening is really quite simple ...
Please tune in to the program
Please pass on this info to vets,
email lists, friends and neighbors.
 
November 5-12, I will be in Branson, Missouri for a welcome home extravasgasnza where for that week the whole town gives to Vietnam Vets the welcome home we did not get when we returned home from that little southeast Asian war. With all my heart I thank them!

My Vietnam foxhole buddies and I will be at a free concert by Tony Orlando, at the Welk Theater, famed for his song "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree," and also attend a patriotic concert by the Oakridge Boys.

Gary
Honor Veterans Day ...
by Gary Jacobson © November 2011
 
Honor Veterans Day
Honor the beloved memory
 of those who are, or have served in the military
even Warriors who gave their all
... for us.
Who paid the ultimate sacrifice
 ... for us
 
So, please, honor past and present soldiers beloved memory
Give tribute to their unexcelled bravery
Honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice
brothers, fathers, sons, friends, loved ones
who rolled the fated dice
Who gave beloved life
For they loved their country more than life
Patriotic spirit's burning within patriot heart's rife
Preserving our sweet liberty
Borne beyond great honor in duty
In honored dignity
... for us
Remember these brave warriors who gave their all
Standing brave and standing tall
... for us.
For us they paid a suffering debt
May we never forget...
Really, May we never forget...
To cherish freedoms they gave us without regret.
To make our liberty and freedom stand for something
With Star Spangled remembrance loudly sing
May our freedom bell's with proud joy ring...
That can be heard from heaven's celestial ramparts
To light a fire in your hearts
Enough to warm the very face of God
Bring eternal peace to America's greening sod.
 

My Lovely Sandbag Bunker Condo

On the South China Sea

by Gary Jacobson © May 2011
 

Oh that Sandbag bunker Condo

On the South China Sea

Where every day I blow a kiss

To my baby across that heartbreak sea from me

May it remain forever in its bliss

Its good times in the worst of times memory remiss

That lovely-awful-horrid to this day haunts me

In daily memory torments me desperately

 

Doing my best impersonation of Rambo

In my lovely Sandbag bunker Condo

Oh, lonely me

On the South China Sea

Its sandbag roof repels pesky grenades right handily

Raining down like the monsoon rain

Bringing their own kind of eternal pain

With their sweet-and-sour sing-song

Those friendly Vietcong

Who would never ever do you no wrong?

.

Watching azure blue waves going in and out

Makes me wish to this day I too could go out

To escape the bullet with my name on it

Outside the wire just hangin' about

It don't mean nuthin', that ol' metal shard

Waiting on the other side of a solemn desert spread

To the jungle beyond the graveyard

Where eternal shadows embed

Wait to deliver my fate

This cannon fodder GI just so much bait.

 

I laugh and I cry when I think of LZ Betty

Fondly of its dinky dau life so gritty

Where I laughed … and I wait

For intemperate spirits irate

That wish me harm

Every fiber of being sounding the alarm

The primal scream

My death a bad dream

Over and over and over

Till its over…

 

Ballad to Brave Patriots

by Gary Jacobson © May 2011
 

Hark the brave patriot who hears noble clarion call

Trumpeting each generation to arms for all
Aye, therewith men gone anon to wrong aright

Thro murky shadow of day come night

Peradventure to shed dear life's precious blood

Alack, mayhap, betwixt thwack and thud

Running hither and thither in wild and angry wood

Twixt desert and gnarled forest for the brotherhood.

 

Homeland fat-cats rattle bloody sabers to exhort

Purring from their perches on high to evildoers thwart

By 'their' good will to brave and true men life abort

Thus does war life's perplexity numb

Sullying war's reputation with M-16 staccato rhythm

Pounding the killing's gawd-awful disdain

Prithee, in 'their' words echo the awful refrain

To forevermore reverberate in wearied brain.

 

O what courage tis erelong met in marry bravery

Bravely true values bemired in miscreant insanity

Their philosophy besmirched by mischief's knavery

Egad, betimes the froward enemy

Be he swarthy or looking just like me

Tis red-stained by guns rock-and-roll jungle beat

Still seeing heinous oppressors shadow in fervid heat

Yet still envisioning soldiers destined to defeat.

 

We Boys sent to rid the world of the villainous ilke

To bear reason in truth to sweet-and-sour silk

Twill find death abounding like spilt milk

For once gone, you cannot get life back

So flying black horses on helicopters attack

Hard Corps men through verdant jungles hack

Waging relentless whencesoever yon

For tis said the righteous carry on…

But the righteous will die as well as the others...

Facing the fated sword with brothers.

 

Alas, the world, exceeding rife with serial war

War that good men say they abhor

Waged from antiquity beforetime

War advocated yet today in many a sweltering clime

With immortal correctness bombs and guns waging

Virtuous goodness thru the muck dragging

Their right supported by champion's spiritual

Their sooth defended by the supernal moral

Verily, embracing war for worth intellectual

Right or wrong…

Wars deadly song..

 

Vets, I Wonder How You're Feeling                                                             

by Gary Jacobson © May 2011
Oh men of yore…

Fresh come from times of war

I wonder how you're feeling

As the planet keeps on reeling

On a time machine rocket blast from the past

Will our time from war forever last?

 

War's still ringing in my ears

Still hiding from dreaming fears

Naïve boys playing with destructive toys

Naïve girls giving the world a whirl

Waiting for the boys

Waiting for the boys.

 

Oh men of yore from the time of war…

Remember where boys were forever lost

By the cruel war tempest tossed

Lost in dying days forever changing

Body and mind rearranging…

The grand upheaval contending with evil.

 

War's calamity sends

Where forever blow the wicked winds

Turning values upside down

Hard to bear through the evil frown

Search for that winning boyish smile

From eternities back across the pond's heartbreak mile.

 

So how are you today?

How are you today?

A

A COMBAT SOLDIER'S PRAYER
by Gary Jacobson © 1999 (distibuted by the American Legion)
http://namtour.com/prayer.html

 This combat soldier's prayer,
Who has served his time in Hell,
Is may we learn the lessons of war well,
That we not doom future generations,
The same old tales of horror to tell,
To endure what in youth they see mistakenly as glory.
Oh God, do not let our children
Repeat the same old story.

Make it so that America's babies live to grow old
In this land of the free and the bold.
Help us throw off the shackles of hate that bind
And grow old in a life of a peaceful kind.

Teach us that there is no glory in war,
Nor honor there that brave men should not abhor.
Teach us instead, one for another our brothers to love.
Shower us with thine Celestial message from above,
That we plant seeds of peace evermore
And make war-no-more!

But if I should die on some far, far away battlefield
Know I answered the call
For a grand principle of freedom to yield.
My fervent prayer is that death
May not have been in vain
Fighting for peace and right for the world to attain.

My brothers, American roses standing by my side
On alien soil dying
In the summer of my youthful pride
All the leaves around me falling.

Now I'm lying here still, in sunshine and in shadow,
Longing to hear, "brother next door, I love you so."
For moldering in the soft ground below,
I feel you living and loving in the world above me
Standing tall because I fought that you might be...
Oh look ye down now,
And tell me you still think of me
Honor my red blood, spilt that others might stand free.

Tell me that I did not give my all for you in vain
That brothers and sisters do not look upon my sacrifice
With hateful,
Or even worse,
Uncaring disdain.

Do not forget me when my valley's hushed
And white with snow,
Grass growing green in the summer of my meadow
Help me see the peace I lived and died for grow.

Make my lonely grave richer,
Sweeter be...
Make this truly,
"The land of the free
And the home of the brave,"
I gave my life to save
That I might too, lie eternally,
Forever free...
 

~Honoring A Noble Warriors Life~
Who Made A Difference

by Gary Jacobson © 2001
http://namtour.com/noblewarriortaps.html
 
Play last taps over a noble warrior's sacred grave
Now gone before, the better way to pave
From the hall's of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli
Over hill, over dale, blazing the shadow of death's victory
Comforted are we,
This valiant spirit has now found rebirth
For he tirelessly toiled in war's hells on earth.

His destiny lies where the sound of guns are heard no more
Enter now that Holiest door to heaven's celestial shore
Reserved for those who gave all standing hickory tall
For family, hearth and home fighting the good fight
Resisting opponents of right with fists of valorous might
Who lived and died for liberty
That all mankind might breathe eternally free

Proud wave his bold legacy
Great courage in greater bravery
A heroes heritage in honored history
Hear this patriotic life story
A stouthearted tradition of faith and loyalty
Revered duty to truth his gallant birthright
With zeal sworn our nation's brightest light

Winds whispering of Divine peace in God's kingdom
Blow softly over hallowed grave of a leader of freedom
O'er a man who more than self his country loved
Who madmen's wrongs in this wide world righted
Who peace on earth so diligently fought for
Who for a consecrated flag, arms he bore
Whenever duty called, always marching to the fore

We will never forget him...
Metered with Pure patriotism's dignity
Answering that clarion call to sacred beings infinity
Head held proudly high with an eagles steely gaze
On ascent to heaven, herald angels triumphant glory raise
Singing of life's many deeds worthy of praise
For him stalwartly true to his beliefs abode all his days

A warrior's death, is only a warrior to higher slopes moving his camp
Strategically to higher ground, free from mortality's dews and damp
Moving to a position more defendable to protect divinity's face
To a sacred place near the Master's grace
No more to suffer a warriors tired and weary bones
Immortal healing free from life's slings and arrows atones

Now he's free at last from earthly toil and pain
Heaven's richest blessings to this valiant warrior ordain
Who smiled in the face of fear with disdain
Opposing madmen to the suffering of others cavalier
Standing as a worthy barrier to make life for others easier
Family, friends and country in devotion protecting
Inalienable rights guarding

Celebrate now the life of father, brother, son exalted
All hail his life true to values precepts honored
Who powers of mortal evil with his good right arm abated
Pass now into arms of brothers again reunited
Into the arms of beloved family on the other shore waiting
For this soldier's very being embodied giving
Who left this world a better place for his living...
 
The Last Firebase

Read the poem online: http://namtour.com/firebase.html

by Gary Jacobson © April 2008
 
My troubled warrior's heart does race
At the black granite wall of the last firebase
With silently primal hue and shout
With enfeebled voice, I reach out...
Connecting with heroes who've fallen all
58,000 names carved on a black granite wall
American heroes who now watch eternal vigils
Patriot angels ... these fallen eagles...

Hell yes, I deeply care...
For that's my brother, over there...

I too was torn from that jungle hell-hole
This black polished wall reflects images of my soul
Beside American heroes here at the last firebase
It's myself I face...
Remembering times when I lost the boy
Xin loi...
Refreshing faded memories I will never forget
Joining here with brothers I can never forget

Tears streak my eye
As I remember Vietnam where I too almost die...
Suffering broken bones and open veins in anguished rage
My spirit in bitter violence on war's daunting page
Held captive by fear and death and guilt lo many a year
Emotive memories shared at this wall's sacred bier
Learn the lessons of horrible tragedy of traumatic war
Establish healing closure that peace will restore.

Here at the wall greet 58,000 brother warriors
Mankind's saviors
Who paid the ultimate sacrifice
Who in the midst of battle's rage rolled fateful dice
Who humped the park over Nam's knife blade bridge
Twixt life "n" death on a razor's cutting edge
Able killing brother Cain in days of the carbine
Reminisce of times in hell when we walked the line...

Now at this wall I unashamedly cry
Arm-in-arm with brothers, I still ask why?
It's not my name carved on that wall
Beside that righteous army still standing tall...
Beside 58.000 fathers, brothers, sisters, son
Still lost in the land of the gun...
Here I covenant to crown their good
With brotherhood....

Hell yes, I deeply care...
For that's my brother, over there...

Honor dear comrades whose spirits the wall entomb
Whose mortal husk war's flames did consume
Cry with buddies who died in that damned war
To assuage oppression's injustice bore
Relive memories where we all wagered life
With blood-brothers who lost theirs in hellfire's strife
By the fates their example on our heart's still burning
Forever for the light of right still yearning...

Look deep into that polished wall, for it holds martyrs
Carpenters, welders, bakers, warriors...
Shut out the memory of death's final screams
Embrace their final resting place of hell-borne dreams
Give honor in homage truly
To soldiers of the wall who did precisely
What their country asked them to do exactly
Who now wear a purple heart courage badge proudly.

Remember the price we all did pay
On that gruesome hot hell of a day
Fighting leaches, two step adders and the Cong
In a place where somehow ... I still belong.
But it's not over yet
Though in this soldier's heart wells a deep sense of debt
Many went away for a long time, trying to forget
Lost in the world haunted by memorial regret...

But now, here at this hallowed wall, I'm back
Though memory of days of violence my nights wrack...
Commune with brother's spirits here blowin' in the wind
Feel the weight of them on your shoulders, friend
March again with men of the last patrol
With men of the last firebase on rock-and-roll...
I'll never go away again ... I'm back
Welcome home brothers! It's good to be back...

Will the circle be unbroken
Will these 58,000 brothers the spirit awaken
For together again, we are they ... and they are we...
Touch brothers here, under an ethereal sky
Circle beside them, red, white, black, yellow, brown
Wearing the victor's crown
As I stand here ... I'm not alone...
Oh no, I've come home!

Hell yes, I deeply care...
For that's my brother, over there...
****
 

Spirits In The Wind

http://namtour.com/spirits.html 
see the poem with more pictures and music.
 
Spirits In The Wind
by Gary Jacobson © July 2000
Talk to the wall...
Touch it, with heartfelt tears after all
Feel soft stillness of peace enthrall
Reach out,
Reach through sacred silence all about
Touch the shadowed inner man
Caress in fondness, finally understand
His ethereal manifestation
Revered spiritual incarnation
Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Feel a brother's hand
On your shoulder friend.
 
Put a red rose under a buddies name...
Feeling guilt in sobered shame
Lean your head against that holy bier
Rivers of tears your weeping heart sear,
Whisper the ageless question why
Unashamedly cry
Why did you live, and he have to die?
Why did a brother have to taste of death
A valiant soldier's life blood dearth
Brave the warrior's final heroic breath?
 
Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Their sacred message tend
Spread to all the world to send
As you wonder with wearied guilt
Comfort pouring over you like water spilt
Feel the spirits of courageous men
Which writers pen.
Brothers who suffered hard knocks
In war's staggering din...
Now of life bereft
For whom a nation wept.
As hot days in "the Nam" you recall
Touch blackened granite covering honored
Battalions all.
Why is your name not beside brothers
Etched on that honored wall?
Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Emotions from "the world" transcend
The very air breathes honors to all
Reverently touch the black cloaked pall
That special place on the consecrated wall
Battle again those who rights of others rend
Another's freedoms with your life defend
Extend a hand to the downtrodden
Once more in honor to lend
On buddies guarding your back
Again depend.
Once again mingle
With brothers to the manner born
For days of grandest horror mourn.
 
Feel their spirits lingering in the wind
Comrades until time itself does end
United again in a moment of holy sacrament
To fight for right self evident
To stand for freedom again
Again to righteously defend!
Spirit and soul with brothers attend
Ministering spirits of light and darkness
Gather round the warrior host's essence
An old soldier's heart to the wall commend
As spirits of warrior brothers blend.
****
My two books:

My Thousand Yard Stare

Beaucoup poetry with over two hundred full color pictures and graphics in this book of my comrades-in-arms, the 1st Air Cavalry, with other unit battle pictures, 101st Aireborne, The Marines, the Wolfhounds, The Americal, The Big Red One, The 9th, the Mekong Delta Riverine ... this book tells the story in poem of the emotions and feelings of a grunt at war, in words that make us remember. If you weren't in fact there, this poetry will give  emotions and feelings of a combat infantryman to make you feel like you were right there walking beside me in combat. It will give an appreciation of the great and terrible sacrifices made by brothers and sisters in war. These are sweet and sour poems of combat against evil found in war, both on the battle front and plaguing my mind. They tell of the devastation, the heartache, the fears, the struggles with the supernal against the devil, rife with wrong and right besetting from all sides, the immorality of the inhumanity of men towards men, the turning upside down of values. They deal with hatreds and the killing, death all around, the dying deeply profound... the wounding of the spirit so telling as to leave an eternal hole in the soul deficit.

Buy "Just A Walk In The Park," or "My Thousand Yard Stare." instantly at, http://namtour.com/marketplace.html with the security and ease of PayPal or your choice of credit cards.

Or buy directly:

Gary Jacobson, 6325 south Old Hwy 191, Malad, Idaho 83252

Just A Walk In The Park
 
A novel packed with beaucoup memoirs, blended with facts happening to myself, or soldiers just over the hill ... with 150 color pictures of Nam combat.
     These were times that defined men's souls; times that set the foundation and tenor for all life to come, eternally affecting our FOREVER, as well as generations of lives surrounding our life. Vietnam was our delineating moment, after which, in Shakespeare's words, "Life is but a walking shadow."
This book will thrill you with heart-stopping action, fear and danger ... death floating in sweet-and-sour air ... but then, you don't want to live forever, do you? You do ... how quaint!
 
Gary
Gary Jacobson
Webmaster of "Vietnam Picture Tour,"
http://namtour.com/namtour.html A walk in "the park" grunts called Vietnam, with the 1st Air Cavalry on combat patrol. Experience chilling reality to leave the sweet and sour taste of "the Nam" pungent on your tongue, the smell of "the Nam" acrid in your nostrils, and textures of "the Nam" imbedded in you as though you were walking beside me in combat.

My poignant poems directory, pictures and artwork to show the essence and feeling of war on young "boys next door," http://namtour.com/nampoemsNpix.html

"Realm Of Poetry," http://namtour.com/P/RealmOfPoetry.html Poems of love and romance, spirituality and meditation, Golden Oldies, comedy, Quests of the regal knight Richard Lionheart to the crusades and seeking the Holy Grail, dueling dragons, frolicking fairies, and comedy....and also links to my site of riding that bestial ogre called war... Poems of love and romance, spirituality and meditation, Golden Oldies, comedy, Quests of the regal knight Richard Lionheart to the crusades and seeking the Holy Grail, dueling dragons, frolicking fairies, and comedy....and also links to my site of riding that bestial ogre called war...