Had we survived the night
we would like to have seen
more grit, more determination
more cooperation in the hands clapping
as we gave everything to serve our people
watching us from the earth;
more mutual respect, more attention
to what the country needs
rather than what it wants.
More like what we see in faces
of veterans standing silently below,
thinking of something far and gone
while we exploded;
seeing with a soldier's eyes
the night drenched in smoky colors of sacrifice.

BY:  Christopher Vera