Donald L. Vlad

Fort Worth, Texas

Don Vlad is a military veteran who has composed many poems over the years on patriotic and military themes. He has been published regionally for some of these poems in Texas. Don is currently District Commander in the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Texas. He is an Ohio native, but feels very much a citizen of the world with his travels and service of veterans and their duty to our great country, but he has his own private anthology of poems on many other themes.

THE VOICE

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT
SOMEONE CALLED MY NAME
WHEN OUT LOUD I ASKED WHO
THE ANSWER WAS -I'M A POW - MIA

LORD UP ABOVE LOOK DOWN ON ALL
INSTILL IN THEM MEMORIES OF THE PAST
LET US ALL NOT FORGET THE CRY
OF THOSE LOST SOULS WHO DID NOT SURVIVE

I WONDER ALOUD - IS THIS A LOST CAUSE
EVERYONE WANTS IT TO BE
EMBARRASSMENT IS HARD TO SWALLOW
WHEN THE TRUTH IS HIDDEN BEHIND THE TREES

WHEN DARKNESS ENVELOPES ME
I SEE IN THE SHADOWS THE FACTS
VOICES ON THE OTHER SIDE CALL MY NAME
THEY SAY - I'M A POW - MIA

A LONELY SOUL

CAN YOU SEE ME; MY SOUL IS AGLOW.
CAN YOU HEAR ME; MY VOICE IS CRYING O UT.
CAN YOU FEEL ME; MY ARMS ARE REACHING OUT.
CAN YOU TOUCH ME; MY BODY IS ACHING.
LONELY LONELY IS MY SOUL.

I CANNOT DIE,
I CANNOT REST,
I AN UNABLE TO LIE DOWN,
I DID MY VERY BEST.

MY BUDDIES, MY PALS, THOSE STILL ALIVE.
THEY WENT HOME, SOME NO LEGS, ONLY THIGHS.
NO ARMS ON SOME, JUST STUMPS,
BUT THEY REMEMBER, FREEDOM CANE HIGH.

I'M LEFT OVER HERE ALL ALONE
JUST A SHELL OF A MAN.
MY SOUL IS RESTLESS AND SCREAMING;
PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE
B RING ME HOME WHERE I BELONG.

I SEE IN THE DISTANCE A MOUND
THE CROSS I SEE THE NEARER I GET
THERE'S A NAME ON IT; NO NOT MINE
MAYBE THE NEXT ONE DOWN THE LINE.
NO PLACE TO LIE FOR THIS LONELY SOUL.