Something Should have been Done, but Wasn't

by Lawrence J. Henriques, the Snowman - Not entered

We needn't pack our scarlet coats, for they and blood are red,
Aye, but we should have stopped them, so many, already are dead,
What shall we tell the Czechs, what excuse can we offer Saigon,
When the widows and orphans ask, "Where have the Yankee's gone?"

They built a wall around Berlin, but who were they who built it,
Around the hearts of the free, when the flower of freedom wilted,
There's part of Chamberlain in all of us, but beware the compromiser,
For those who advocated right, Churchill, MacArthur and Nimitz,
Were surely  wiser.

And if someone should ask us why..., because..because is our faint reply,
Because we were.... afraid to die! 
"Rights! My Rights!" the youth resound, I say "what about responsibility?"
Shout it loud, if you can, in '56 in Hungary.

Reason for writing:

    While 18, reflecting upon the communist menace, after meeting
a Vietnamese student, who asked, "where did you yankees go -
after you left, they killed my family" 
    

Birth sign: Not entered
Date created: 1996-09-16 13:06:10
Last updated: 2021-03-03 14:38:59
Poem ID: 45578

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