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Tramp, tramp, tramp, We’re Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Left far, far behind are home, civility, and mom, Just tramping, searching for the elusive Cong People say done freedom wrong! We’ve hiked twenty klicks today, Or thirty, More or less I’d say, Gettin’ down and dirty Weary soldiers rock and sway Too tired to fight But have to they just might Eyes peeled for black pajama Charley Who invited us to join his jungle party... Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Tramp, tramp, tramp Marching in jungle dews and damp Looking for Charlie’s calling card With our names on it, His “How do you do” bullet... That’ll put us in a world of shi_, uh, er, trouble. Don’t know why that little feller’s Throwin’ such a hissy fit, Cause we’re Just marchin’ thru the Nam! We’re watching closely every step, Cause it might be our last step A mindless, Slogging one foot after the other lock step And we don’t want it should be in vain. Give us undue pain While we’re Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Who knew under the soil we tramp Charley’d planted a bomb... Charlie’s a most finicky little guy He’d like nothing better than our souls to fry, To laugh while in death throes we wriggle and die Wading thru battle’s confusing bedlam. As we’re Just marchin’ thru the Nam! We’re ghostly forms in fatigues humping, Shuffling, Tramping, Over the searing ground, Through fetid jungle lingering round No one speaking No one making a sound Other than the thump, thump, thump, Weary faces colorless as clay Facing war’s hell all the way Every day Just marchin’ thru the Nam! We’re green clad ghosts Searching for our jungle hosts Where evil spirits dwell Naive “boys next door’s” first taste of hell Listening intently for death’s final knell Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Viet Cong all around In silence making not a sound Where you dread to hear that click Of AK-47’s that make stomachs churn sick. Yea, we’re Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Not giving a diddly dam Whether we live or die... Whether folks at home cry Or politicians sanctimoniously sigh, With non-sensible flimflam Over torn bodies and minds flotsam. They don’t care, Cause rifles they don’t gotta bear. We’re Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Like soldiers have done since the dawn of time Boots slogging In syncopated rhyme Dragging Ready any minute life to shed To turn this green jungle gory red... Green, green elephant grass stirs in the breeze, A mournful, moaning sound death to bereave, Shaking, quaking, banana palm leaves. Searching jungled web the Viet Cong weaves. Come into my jungle parlor, Young American soldier Just marchin’ thru my Nam! I would share with you my secret, Deep within you plunge my silver bullet When your evening sun burns low, When your dying star casts eerie glow. Let the death I give, Separate you from us like a sieve. Let sweet and sour death sultry Escort you from my country Give you rest from toil and woes No more to smell pungent vapors death blows. For in answering your country’s call you chose To die in final dark repose. Just marchin’ thru my Nam! I have punji stakes to stick you Dipped in excrement’s of my special brew Bring my hate home to you in fevered dew. For trying to make us from our way of life change Your body from spirit I'll derange... Booby traps will separate your body parts Make your mother’s sob with bleeding hearts I’ll give you reason for your fearing Leave your life with trauma’s searing I’ll teach you to come over here with gunfire preaching Make you pay for hiking, Stumping Killing... Just marchin’ thru my Nam! Why, oh why, do they hate me, Despise me, Revile me, Want in the worst way to kill me, I’m just a soldier from the land of the free Who’s traveled far across this heartbreak sea Just marchin’ thru their Nam! I can’t help wondering Mid all this horror traumatizing Where had we all gone wrong Singing wars most desolate song Resisting... Nam’s hoary specter of death Hiding... From its cankered breath... Filled with hating’s virulent rage Grayish white and ancient of age... What am I doing here In this alien land quaking with fear Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Where had we gone astray? Why was my countenance grimly gray? We’re just “boys next door,” Doing duties chore, Finding it hard to fathom, War’s bloody maelstrom Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Battle’s brawl sees both good men Or bad chosen from the cacophonous din Plucked at random From this Vietcong feudal fiefdom... A nations brightest future so young, Give last dying breath to a generation Indiscriminately flung Just marchin’ thru the Nam! Will lives lost to this indiscriminate, Chaotic, Wanton beast Satisfy the war God’s rowdy feast? Who picks he who this day Shall by chance fall, Who this day shall give to their country Their all... Will bitter war wounds forever gall... Will evil memories a lifetime pall... On men... Just marchin’ thru the Nam! each poem with more action graphics and Pictures 
from the lens of a combat infantryman! |