SEMPER FI
John Gorka
My father met Eleanor
Roosevelt
In nineteen forty-five
The war was finally over then
And they were still alive
Her husband was the president
'Til he ran out of time
Her Franklin D. was history
And they put him on the dime
My father joined the leathernecks
To stay out of the mine
The new marine was just sixteen
In nineteen thirty-nine
There were medals and malaria
The South Pacific War
Through jungles that were paradise
And were paradise no more
Soldiers fight and
soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi, fe-fo-fum
Look out peacetime, here we come
Some of the men who did
survive
Were not the lucky ones
War is only good for those
Who make and sell the guns
My father lay recovering
The hurt was all inside
Sometimes the wounds that never heal
Are the easiest to hide
When Eleanor came bearing gifts
To San Francisco Bay
She gave my dad a blanket
In the hospital that day
That blanket meant a lot to him
My mother has it still
Some forget the kindnesses
That others never will
Soldiers fight and
soldiers die
Soldiers live to wonder why
Semper fi, fe-fo-fum
Look out peacetime, here we come
.
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