Colors

Dedicated: The many names upon the wall

There are colors in a rainbow
Every solider knows so well
The red, white and blue of the U.S. of A.
Which engraves a lasting hue

So often we forget
What the colors really mean
Just ask a battle scared veteran
Who has seen a field run red

With the living fearing dying
While the dead lay pale and white
They fight like no tomorrow
For a cause they hold so tight

To those who walk away
From the horror caused by war
Leaves a twisted drying feeling
Like a train wreck deep in hell

When finally the tour of duty
Comes to a justly end
They return not as heroes
As their Fathers did before

But as men who killed unjustly
For a cause so few believe
Older now and graying atop my balding head
Even after forty years the nightmares refuse to fade

I still remember the dying
They cry inside my dreams
I carried out my orders
Like a soldier suppose to do

While this Gyrene, remembers
The heroes left behind
With a prayer and a tear
I gaze towards that wall

Which holds the solemn names engraved
For the gallant troops who gave their all
So when that colored rainbow
Flows across the crimson sky

I'll pray it lighten
Up the gloom
Making the sky
Forever blue

Written by: Roland R. Ruiz
December 23, 2008