Rock and cement chips scattered
on dusty, littered streets, flashback:
bamboo and jungle ferns strewn
on soggy, grass-covered paths.
Wide, arid plains spread out below
distant, gray-brown mountains, flashback:
narrow, rain-gorged rivers leading
to far, foggy, claustrophobic green hills.
Humvee and Bradley tanks; rattling
patrols on death-dealing roads, flashback:
Jeep and ancient APC; rumbling
missions on body-littered streets.
F-16 and Blackhawk helicopters firing
over minaret and into sacred mosque, flashback:
F-4 and Huey helicopters strafing
over temple and into forgotten village.
Desert camo, young and buff
fighting the new millenium’s crusade, flashback:
jungle camo, young, and on self-destruct
fighting to win the long, cold war.
War of liberation, freedom, and the
imposition of unenforceable democracy, flashback:
war of disengagement, democracy and the
imposition of unenforceable freedom.
