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This poem and others are available in my book, Nothing Works: Meditations on Aikido, Buddhism, the Tao, Zen, and other inconsequential things.... Available thru Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites....Sorry for the plug, but I gottta fund my retirement... Try this link: www.nothing-works.com
I man the broken
Barricades of civilization
Three tours now
God I am weary!
The enemy has no mercy
Suicide bombers
Vie for paradise
We fight and fight
A damn PC-war
For love and country and gods
And corporate greed
Thanatos and eros
Compete while ghosts weep
I hang between earth and sky
In an imposed limbo
To face the truth
Is to embrace death
As all must under heaven
Yet, all I really think about
Is your sweet face
Will I ever go home again
And feel your touch?
Our warriors go forth
Upon our bidding
Duty bound
And come back scarred
And sometimes maimed
From battles fought
And comrades lost
In honorable combat
Pariahs or heroes
Their fates we decide
We can circle
The ancient campfire
And embrace our brethren
Home from the wars
Recognizing there is honor
If we honor them
Recognizing there is glory
If we glorify them
And that we can multiply the joy
And share the pain, of each
Sitting in a coffee shop
Sipping my coffee
In Traverse City, Michigan
A business trip
Feeling the solitude
Of lonely travel
The music in
The background
Playing Hallelujah
Seeming to fit, somehow:
Forlorn, melancholic
Sorrowfully uplifting
Not quite the Zen
Detachment I was looking for
More like self-pity (miss you)
No Aikido practice tonight
Just reading journals
And writing reports
Preparing for morning meetings
My body missing the
Physical activity, the
Sweat and effort of
Being nage and uke
My mind the moving Zen
Perhaps, one day, I'll
Be able to take it
All off the mat and be
Capable of doing my Aikido
Sitting in a coffee shop
Sipping my coffee
05-12-2013 02:47 PM 
