AND NOW THEY ARE HERE
There were stories he would tell
About his life across the sea
The tales of exotic islands
Were intriguing to me
He told of foreign ports
From Asia to Brazil
He laughed about flirting with beautiful women
And the sights he remembers still
Then he got quiet
And looked down at his coffee cup
His hands were wrapped around it
Like he refused give it up
He stared into his coffee
As if there was something floating in there
It was memories of some horrible things
He never thought he'd share
"It has been over thirty years
Since we landed in Beirut
The terrorists were everywhere
In hiding they stayed put"
"We were greeted with a horrid task
Much more terrible than hell
To dispose of the many body parts
Of the local infidel"
" You see, they would not toe the line
With what extremists said was right
So they were murdered, bombed, and tortured
Women were raped for hours that night"
"We tried to act like men
And not be sickened by the sight
But as we gathered up the body parts
Our stomachs were knotted tight"
"We were shot at by those cowards
Who holed up safe behind the scenes
We lost a fellow marine
A kid just past his teens"
"Not many of us slept that good anymore
Our nightmares would not stop
We prayed to see our homeland's shore
Where the terrorists were not"
"How would I know that before I died
We'd have those killers in our midst
What could we have done to stop them?"
My friend tightened up his fists
I know now why he looked away
As this story he revealed
A marine is not supposed to cry
The tears he had concealed
