INSIDE THE WIRE

In Memory on Memorial Day

outside the wire, I could not have kept you safe
from mine fields, snipers, imagination, krait

come back inside, could I not love you more?
try, you did 'gainst self, to correct a Wall'd score

you glowed again, combat purple, a last fate
a seeming fourth in star*, granting you glory late

inside you came, me welcoming each flashback
but comms are severed, a lifeline gone slack

no greater love in you than to love fellow man
always peace's keeper, no pained warrior again

still bring mothers' sons back home from the fire
with the Few who neither sleep nor truly retire

tho' you are lost beyond the wire .... forevermore
brothers embrace you, Semper Fi to the Corps

(c) 2003 Rennie Lorca

* a fourth star for just one of The Few (Memorial Day)