Dust to Dust

for Mr. S.

He had a deal with the Almighty
he was going to live to 100

When I met him in November
he was 78

***

He grew up poor
but didn’t know it

grew up discriminated against
didn’t know that either

lived under the “umbrella of discrimination”
but it wasn’t designed to protect him

Joined the Air Force
straight out of high school

That’s when he found out
he’d grown up poor

and had been discriminated against
his whole life

Left for Vietnam
when he was 18

Cut all ties here
knew he was going

“to kill or be killed”
Woke up with orange

dust all over himself
the US’s chemical solution

to take down elephant grass
Watched a friend get

killed by the Viet Cong
cuz the guy’s commander

wouldn’t give his squad
permission to fire

When he came back to the U.S.
he got spit on

called “Baby Killer”
left undefended by the country

he almost died for
30 minutes from it

never visited the wall
His friend’s name is on it

“because of some stupid shit”
Survived two cancers

not including growing up poor
or the scourge of discrimination

On February 28, 2026,
he died of yet another cancer

It took it 50-something years
but Agent Orange

took him down too
returning him to dust

***
He died because of some
really fucked up stupid shit

He should still be here
He deserved at least 22 more years