I feel you shaking in your sleep

Muscles contract and expand on memories

Jerking in the jungle

Fleeing from the flames

Sleeping somewhere near Saigon again

Bound with bandages

Wound tighter by time

Hovering in the heat

Choking on the stench

Of your own charred skin

If I touch you

Will you recognize the caring

Or think me Cong

Hiding in the trees

Attacking in the dark

And weave piano wire

From the substance of your dreams

A noose from Nam

To break my neck

In this bed we shared

Before you went away

And came back shaking.

(C)1981 Peggy Mishoe