Remembering the Vietnam War and the Warriors
~~Sequence in Tet Major~~

COMIN' UP ON TET AGAIN BLUES

Every year about this time,
I find it hard to sleep.
I walk and pace the floors at night,
My thoughts are sad and deep.

I think of times in a far off land,
When they and I were young,
And Christmas came to foxholes
With no carols being sung.

Cookies, Kool-Aid, sox and cards
In boxes all were sent
To young guys and young women too
Who lived in trenches and in tents.

I've heard that some had Christmas trees,
But that many more had not...
How hard to be so young out there
With Christmas just a thought.

How hard to be so young out there
Where peace was just a dream
Where the night was broken not by choirs,
But by a soldier's scream.

Where the wise men did not venture out
Where no one herded sheep
And your light had better be well hid
Beneath a bushel deep.

Where the only ass that mattered
Was your buddies' and your own
And the only stars that twinkled
Were your tears, so far from home.

And so...this time of year I find
It's hard to feel the joy
It's hard to shop among the crowds
For perfume and for toys.

Because my thoughts go out to yesteryear
When the days were not holy and calm
But bright with arc-lights, and flushed with fear
In a war called Vietnam.

Oh...light a candle for the lost
Upon the midnight clear
For it's coming up on Tet again,
The dawn of a new year.

1999...Barb