RETURN TO NAM....A short story by jude kyrie

It was more than a lifetime ago,
I was just 17 back then across the faded years
amost 50 years to be exact.
The jungle is forgiving
no matter how the war had torn it
and poisoned it with agent Orange
fertilized it with the blood of so many young men.
It recovered as resilient
as a spring in the hardware store
resuming its original shape
as though nothing had ever been there.

I am an old man now
far from the blush of my youth spent here
but I need to be here before my time is passed.
I find the clearing where it happened
. I close my eyes
and I feel them here again with me, all of them.
We are all so young so handsome
so full of life and possibilities.
We are passing round  a doobie
I take a long deep drag of the weed
my head calms down.

A feeling for my buddies overtakes me
perhaps its the marijuana
maybe it's just plain love,

I shout I love you man
to my best buddy Joe.
He shouts back
not as much as I love you man,

Soldiers get closer than wives and girlfriends
we touch where it counts
where all the chips fall.
it's real love
not damned holywood crap.

I keep my eyes closed
I feel Joe close by me.
I know now why I made the journey .
Why I was here
pulling the scabs of old wounds
letting them bleed again.

I see the tracer lights
of the gunfire in the clearing.
I see Joe fall mortally  wounded.
guys were dying all around me.
They were not calling for god
they cried like children for their mother's.

I hold Joe in my my arms
his last words are
I love you man.

I open my eyes
the clearing is silent
except for the chirping of the jungle.

My mouth whispers
not as much as I love you man.