Righteous View

A Rant from the Heart

In Vietnam they DO NOT GLORIFY “patriots”

in our way, and

They do not think of their brothers and sisters

Who have died for them

In NATIONALISTIC terms

They don’t think like that,

and can’t afford to,

And they also Do.

A Monoculture, not a multi-culture

In our vein

Like the States

So we have to think of

Her differently,

Of all countries, and middle kingdoms,

Differently, and the same

Places that are not the States,

Sovereigns like Vietnam,

View those dead

Not valiant warriors of a “cause”

But Casualties of Causes

Except when they don’t

Because Surprise:

They’re Us Too

The emphasis cannot be on their value

As heroes of causes

But because they died

For Us

Some burned,

So the smoke would clear our eyes.

An Important lesson

My own grandfather’s friends

Disintegrated before his eyes

“pink mist,” now a culturally normative term

For US

And we don’t know honor

Or how we can practice

For those that died

Decidedly so,

For Us

Many valiantly, for the man beside them

Or the spouse and child behind

Who are You.

Anywhere.

So easy, so fucking easy, to forget

©2023 by Stephen Rains, Ardhanarisvara Das