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ON THE FLIGHT DECK
As I stood my appointed watch on the flight deck,
The echo of drowned sailors whispered in the night
Upon slight breezes sea birds confused by the sight
Of the mammoth structure sailing so smoothly at sea.
On the flight deck of this aircraft carrier America
The jets were situated quietly like giant albatrosses
Birds beautiful in flight after a complicated takeoff
These giant avian machines calmly awaiting the dawn.
Surrounded by the slight, supple waves of the Pacific
The eerie calm belied the coming tempest at dawn,
These predatory birds flooding the skies of Vietnam
Inundating the terrain with a deluge of annihilation.
Some did not return for the intricate landing aboard,
Their young lives ended in the jungles of Vietnam
Their charred bodies repatriated many years later
As the lives of their families lingered in suspense.
