We are the island people
Molded from lava’s fire.
It is our honor
To teach the world to laugh,
To teach the world to dance,
To teach the world to stand.
We are of one family!
We are the human beings.

We are the African people
Molded from Eden’s clay.
It is our good pleasure
To teach the world to care,
To teach the world to be fair,
To teach the world to share.
We are of one family!
We are the human beings.

We are the Asian people
Forged from water and sand.
It is our good pleasure
To teach the world to ponder,
To teach the world to wonder,
To teach the world to listen.
We are of one family!
We are the human beings.

We are the Caucasion people
Spread throughout the world.
It is our great pleasure
To teach the world to reach,
To teach the world to rise,
To teach the world to reap.
We are of one family!
We are the human beings.

We are the Latin people
Shaped from adobe straw.
It is our humble pleasure
To teach the world to smile,
To teach the world to play,
To teach the world to pray.
We are of one family!
We are the human beings.

We are the Indigenous people
Part of all alive.
It is our responsibility
To give the world its heart,
To show the world its part,
To live the world as one.
We are of one family.
We are the human beings.

Ah! Yee, Shehe!
Beat the drum, pump our heart.
Deem that our blood-flow start.
Have our soul kick-start the brain.
Give us birth to still the pain.
Ah! Yee, Shehe!

It’s really hard to say
From many painful levels.
Sometimes I think, “Is this real?”
Or my own shameful devils.
Who knows?

The feeling tank’s on empty
Except for numb and angry.
Each day begins with worry,
Fear and panic make me weary.
Who cares?

Pour a whacked-out cocktail:
Two parts sore, two parts scary,
Two parts hidden, two parts horny.
Shake it well to keep life iffy.
Want one?

Most important, don’t forget
You have to hear what I can’t say.
When I tell you to go away,
Take my hand and say you’ll stay.
Please?

I know it was the Season
Cause the bird brought
Ammo, mail and chow.
Turkey, spuds and gravy
They kept it hot somehow.

Between Hill 55 and An Hua,
During the weird ” time-out,”
When we’d pretend to be at peace.
But we cross the Bon tomorrow,
Pushing Charlie to the beast.

2nd squad took the point.
Tried to stop, look and listen.
Our presence though made their decision.
Right on cue, we waded up to shore
To carry out the mission.

Moving slow and easy up the bank.
Then the whole damn beach exploded.
Dust and sand made it difficult to see.
Cleared vision showed only eight left standing,
And that included me.

Most were down with parts blown everywhere.
Our ears echoed deaf while we gulped hard for air.
We found Charlie’s wires that he had lit up
When our placements cued them ready,
We were ambushed by those bitches we called Betty.

Secured the scene and sniffed for Charlie’s exit.
Evacs enroute, we tended to the wounded,
Wrapping dead men into their coffin-ponchos.
We gathered up hate and honed it into fists.
They’d pay today and I’d do their honcho.

In the ville, we found the stash.
Charlie spitting at our questions.
So we fired up, turned it all to ash.
By my hand, an eye for eye,
I pushed God away forever.

Now, I’m back, right where it happened.
Soaked wet ins Perfume’s Cave of Mercy,
I shed mostly tears at Thien Mu at Hue,
I’m here to pray for my brothers
To the God I’d sent away.

Drew my gear in the rear at Dog Patch II.
Hit the local Ville like all new guys do.
Got my sandals, pad and home-made locker.
Saw a French deserter, grinning in his rocker.

Told to catch the mail bird, early on the morrow.
High in the moment, didn’t know any sorrow.
One tour behind me, now a new buck sergeant,
But really never knew what body bags meant.

We lifted off at dawn with me in the belly.
Stop number four was my home valley.
It was my first ride with guns at each door.
We started taking rounds, a gunner hit the floor.

Jumped off the crates, ready to do something.
The wound was wide with life-blood squirting.
His crotch now a hole, his scrotum barely hanging.
Tried to stop the bleeding, while the rounds kept banging.

Flew to Charlie-Med where they took him away.
Sat there thinking, Damn! It’s just my first day.
Hands were all sticky, my feelings hitting empty.
Took hold of numb. It was free in that Country.

We finally set down easy at the end of the tarmac.
Crew chief yelled, “Get out and don’t come back!”
“Sit your grunt ass down over there on the dunes.”
Right by Marble Mountains; bumps on the moon.

EOD swept the bird, top to bottom, even more.
Slowly easing the crates out of both side doors.
Examined all the ammo, handling each case with care.
Crew chief looked at me, ran his fingers through his hair.

With a mortar tube in hand, he walked over to me.
Held up the black casing, twisting so I could see.
While I stared, he said, “Your karma’s a good fit.”
Quarter inch more and we’d be paddy shit.

Just the beginning of my combat story.
John Wayne was wrong. It ain’t full of glory.
Guess it might be true ‘bout the luck of the Irish.
But there’d be other uglies before I would finish.

Change 22, seemed to be the way.
Creepin and crawlin, earnin’ combat pay.
Man sez, “Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door.”
Snoopin and poopin, always for the Corps.

Birdman comes, and it’s up, up away.
Hanoi Hannah won’t find us today.
NVA’s a movin and Giap’s in his tree.
It’s gettin kind a hinky in the DMZ.

There’s poop of a base going up at Khe Sanh.
Nam’s getting busy, Jodie’s doin Dear Johns.
The NVA didn’t know they couldn’t win.
Toi hoi! Tonight we zzz on a hill at Con Thien.

Chopper unloads and we hoof through the dust.
3a greets the team, but says nothing of the fuss.
CO’s a seasoned vet, lays out his needs to know.
Sez find a hole, catch some zzz’s, then be good to go.

We dig in by the bunker in the rear with the gear.
There’s safety in 1000, so we dial down the fear.
The hole’s like a Hilton, with service in a can.
Didn’t know we’d soon be meetin’ the new Charlie man.

I laid out the nanna’s, my carbine’s cap’n chow.
Curled up in the hole, wiped sand from my brow.
Slept three solid hours fore Charlie’s strange snore.
Bamboo knock, knock, knocking on everybody’s door.

Nod’d off a little, when silence squelched the horror.
But jerked awake again when they knocked on wood some more.
Over and over, till the nerves began to wear.
Mortars lit the sky with darkness’ daylight flare.

Then they yelled and they charged, front, rear and side.
This is crazy shit, I wanted off this lousy ride.
“Gooks in the line,” rang out the bloody cry.
The standing order’s clear, if it stands, make it die.

I saw him running at me bout thirty yards away.
I could see his blade at the tip of his movin’ AK.
My clip was empty. I needed to pull it free.
My God! There’s no time. He’s gonna stick me!

He lunged and I pulled him right on top of me.
The heel of my hand set his dead soul free.
For the rest of that night, with every floating flare,
His noseless face froze me with his lifeless stare.

Daylight came and we totaled up the score.
Not too bad, another victory for the Corps.
The bird returned, took us deep inside the hills.
But I knew that day that I wanted no more kills.