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Monday, July 11, 2011

Dear America

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Poster
Once I was a soldier
And I fought on foreign sands for you
Once I was a hunter
And I brought home fresh meat for you
Once I was a lover
And I searched behind your eyes for you
Soon there'll be another
To tell you I was just a lie

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me?

And though you have forgotten
All of our rubbish dreams
I find myself searching
Through the ashes of our ruins
All the days when we smiled
And the hours I ran wild
With the magic of our eyes
And the silence of our words

Sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you ever remember me?
Ever remember me?

By Tim Buckley

The above lyrics are from a song by Tim Buckley. I had heard this song many times before and liked it but it wasn't until I saw an HBO film called "Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam" that I truly fell in love with this song. I am still inept when it comes to embedding video into blog posts so here is a link to the song in the film.

I was absolutely floored when I saw this and honestly, if anyone has not seen "Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam" you have no idea what you are missing. It is truly one of the best movies/Documentaries ever made about our involvement in the Vietnam War. It's stunning in it's simplicity and emotion...this segment that I've linked to is my favorite and it involves this song.

I am probably most moved emotionally when I see images of men in combat or just back from combat. There is something about their eyes, there mannerism's that absolutely cut through all the bullsh*t of life and hits straight to the Soul of Man. Fighting for your life and killing for it brings an almost animalistic simplicity of kill or be killed to life...it's survival, plain and simple.

In my own way, I have been there where I've made the choice to live over dying. To fight no matter what...to endure almost unspeakable things and move on to something else. And feel as if I couldn't speak about it...it's a painful, hurtful, unbearable secret one carries with them...an emotional ball and chain as it were.

This song and these images to me there....