Shadows and Light

(On the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of my discharge)

The day they killed the Prince of Camelot

I was called to serve.

I hesitated, demurred but in the end went.

I served and survived.

I came back home whole and alive.

Guilty I survived without a scratch.

My shame grew but never hatched.

Wounded at the treatment of my returning friends and

And wounded by this war that never seemed to end.

It was a wound in my soul that my wife’s love could not it mend.

One day I came to this black stone where I realized

I had no need to bear this alone.

In the polished reflection I saw my face

That now was shining there by God’s grace.

I saw brave names carved head to foot.

These soldiers died so others might riot and loot.

Names vilified by those that didn’t share

the duty and honor and country that put them there.

Names so carved never despaired and waited to heal

Men like me who came there.

Comrades who came home, their duty done,

Comrades who remembered those this wall had won.

Evil is not a country, race or name.

It is a burning petty flame.

Today grand children of these men again stand tall.

Again they right the wrong and make evil fall.

The names will be added here or there.

They will shine as now in the warm sun’s glare.

In the end, there were no unhealed wounded for those that see

These reflections just like me.

Richard E. McGinty

US Army 1963-1965