Poem: Vietnam Revisited

by Dayl Wise, November 06, 2009

Vietnam Revisited
Bringing medical supplies to hospital
in Ha Tan, 1997

A man my age lies on a cot,
his brown face exposed to the wall.
Leg wounds a week old ooze.
A 30-year-old mine went off, I’m told,

he was gathering wood.

I’m asked to take his picture.
He turns with narrowed eyes,
I aim, focus,
hate fills the lens.
I close my eyes and shoot.