Prelude to
I SAW YOUR EYES TONIGHT
With the Memorial day holiday approaching I thought that I might share a poem that that I wrote in March of 1991.
As a family we had gone to a soccer tournament to watch Mandy play. We were staying in a motel and were watching television. At this particular moment the news was on and they were showing pictures of the individual soldiers who had died in Desert Storm. I sat mesmerized in front of the TV as the eyes of each soldier starred back at me with the backdrop of the American flag waving in slow motion behind their heads. They were gone and here I was, thousands of miles away, relaxing with my family in the comfort of a motel room. At that moment I felt unworthy of their sacrifice. I wanted to shout out loud so they could hear me say, "I see you and I know what you did for me! Thank You!" I found a pencil and penned a few words. Shortly there after, as a trustee of the Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District, I used these words as part of an opening prayer in a board meeting. It still wasn't enough so after the board meeting I sat down and finished the poem. It still seems like an inadequate tribute. Maybe it will never be enough.
I SAW YOUR EYES TONIGHT
I saw your eyes tonight,
Your names and faces scrolling on the screen,
Flags moving in slow motion from behind.
I saw your eyes tonight,
From across that great divide of sea and land,
Where the desert dunes roll on and on
Like an ocean of sand.
I saw the fire tonight,
It's rising plumes of smoke upon the horizon,
Lifting high to the sky.
I saw your tears
And your life's blood,
In pools upon the ground.
I heard your last breath,
Its mournful sound,
Echoing across the desert floor
Like thunder,
Like rolling, crashing waves
Upon my ears,
Ascending to the clouds.
I saw your eyes tonight,
And watched them close,
Your best and last to give.
I saw the planes tonight,
Plane after plane,
Carrying home rejoicing voices
To cheering crowds.
I saw your wives
And your little ones,
Your mothers
And your fathers,
Looking to the skies,
Watching the planes arrive,
Wishing for your return.
I saw them there,
Upon the tarmac cold and damp,
Huddled together on bended knees.
I saw their tears
And heard their weeping
Ascending like giant, soaring birds
In a rising thermal to God.
I watched them there
In long embrace,
Holding fast
With hands and arms,
Tighter and tighter,
Their contracting circle
Closer and closer,
Sheltering out
The gathering gloom.
-----
Sitting in my easy chair,
Purple afghan
Spread across my legs,
Warm and cozy,
I will rest tonight.
I will sleep and I will rise,
And each day,
As I lift my eyes to the morning sun
I will remember.
I will think of you
And thank God
For what you did.
I will gather my little ones
Around me for evening prayer
And we will talk of sacrifice,
Of devotion to duty,
Of flags and of eagles.
They will touch the tear upon my cheek
And ask me,
"Daddy, why do you weep?"
And I will tell them
That I saw your eyes tonight.
