Gazing along the Wall today, the names I did not want to see,
As twenty years of sorrow and grief, overpowered even me.
So turning slowly to move away, I felt the power of it all,
As 58,000 inscribed Names beckoned with their call.
And there among the blackened panels,
The names reached out to me.
They tightened my throat and filled my eyes,
For all the world to see.
The clap of thunder, that was not thunder,
Still rings within my ears,
And memories of their vacant stares, have followed me for years.
I heard their voices over again, I felt their sickening pain.
As the friends of mine and yours and more,
Lay dying in the rain.
Who made the choices? Who drew the names?
Why them and why not me?
And it's haunted me day to day since then,
For reasons I could not see.
Don't turn away. Don't hang your head.
Don't leave us now they call.
Instead come close and talk awhile.
We're always at "The Wall."