Bobby's Shirt

[saw]

I am invincible
when I wear Bobby's shirt.

Friends for forty years,
you the lead guitar,
and I the bass player
in our first band, "The Lourds",
and countless other rock bands.
You would become a jarhead,
and I a swabbie, later we would
partner in carpentry,
many enigmatic creations
still lingering in the city that believes.
And while I was drawing water
on a subtender in Key West,
you were in Vietnam
running through the jungle,
both of us listening to Creedence
Clearwater Revival
from opposite ends of the world.
But you would come home
with an insidious hitchhiker,
a carcinogenic stowaway,
and that dioxinated demon
would take your life
just shy of fifty years.
Your three beautiful daughters
would ask me if I would
feel weird, if they gave me
your favorite shirt, the one with
the Chinese dragons
and the flames, and I would reply,
no greater honor could
possibly be bestowed upon
my sorry soul.....

When I wear Bobby's shirt
I have the courage, and I have
the fire, to speak out against
senseless slaughter.

[hester_prynne]

Absolutely fantastic read, I truly truly love this saw....
Thank you...

H

[mnaz]

I hope I do too.

Saw, that is beautiful, and powerful. And seeing. Thank you.

[mtmynd]

top notch!

[Lightning Rod]

eulogies are very tricky, saw
I've had to write too many of them myself
poignant
(can you loan me that shirt?)

[saw]

thanx, ya'll....yea this one took a while to write, I was too close
I've read the poem twice, with the shirt on, once at CD release party for a compilation called "Words on War" and once at an anti-war
gathering of Iraq Veterans Against War...and both times people approached me with very humbling feedback.....made me feel like I was keeping my friend's spirit alive....thanks again.........