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Night Vision
by Dennis R. "Michigan" Leahy
Bravo 6/31st

I leap into the rice paddy
beneath a chopper's drone.
I fire straight ahead
though my heart is back at home.
I make it to the jungle
shooting down shadows in the dark.
Kill or be killed I pull the trigger
though I can't convince my heart.
I throw my last grenade
death is the color of the sky.
A cobra gunship melts the woodline
just as I draw my 45.
A bullet kills my sergeant
I'm the last one left alive.
The enemy is here now
I feel my body burst inside.

I wake up with a scream
in my bedroom in the dark.
My body wet with fear
pain pounding in my heart.
No need for a medic
or my jungle vest.
This is my reward
even though I did my best.

I check to make sure each child
is safely sleeping in their bed.
Can't let them know the horrors
that stalk me in my head.
No voices screaming help me
no landmines on the ground.
No one laying wounded
no enemies to be found.
Courage is the only weapon
that I hold in my hand.
To help me slay the dragon
that is called Vietnam.