Remembering Sergeant D

In the fall of 1972

When cosmos waved in the autumn breeze

For miles along the country roads,

And dappled foliage covered the trees,

 

In South Korea I knew a man--

I'll just call him Sergeant D--

Who was stationed in the city of Seoul

At a U.S. Army post with me.

 

Buddies we weren't. To tell the truth

I didn't know him very well.

But he was a definite character,

Always joking and raising hell.

 

Payday would come once a month

And Sergeant D would be in the black.

A few days later he'd want to borrow

Money that he'd never pay back.

 

That fall Sergeant D

Was "getting short," an expression that meant

He was close to leaving the service.

For him that was an exciting event.

 

"Short!" he'd yell, on entering the barracks.

"Short!" you'd hear from a block away.

He loved to rub it in, much

To his homesick army buddies' dismay.

 

To exit the service, he would fly

To California, where a car--

A flashy new model--awaited him

To drive back home--rather far.

 

So after the sergeant left Korea,

Picked up his car, and headed east,

He died on a California

Highway. Tragic, to say the least.

 

After having survived two tours

Of duty in Vietnam, this man

Left Korea and died before

His post-army life began!

 

Life is full of ironies

That always have us asking "Why?"--

Ironies that make us chuckle,

Make us ponder, make us cry.

  

(9-10-16)