I Saw Your Eyes Tonight

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.