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Battered Christ of Hai Lang

Don, yes I remember it:
the night we hunkered in our holes
by the schoolhouse on the fringes of Hai Lang,
the crack of AK-47s from inside the town,
the rattle of the M-16s and M-60s
shooting back,
the screeching rain of our artillery
that wrecked the town all night.
And when morning came
on the third day of the Tet Offensive
and we walked through
the remnants of Hai Lang,
we saw what superior firepower
can do to flesh and bone
and homes and shops and lives.
Do you remember the battered Christ
who stood in the courtyard
of the Catholic church,
arms outstretched, body torn apart
by shrapnel?
Do you recall how one hand hung
miraculously to the statue --
and the three Vietnamese women
who wept on the ground
beneath it?
We remember all these years.
We are still there;
the women are still weeping . 1

2


Poet's Note: Today, I spoke to Don Shive, my company commander from the 101st Airborne Division, who led us during the toughest part of the 1968 Tet Offensive.

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