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



The story of his existence...this story is of so many. Thank you, Martha, for putting it down so he is frozen in time...well beyond 100.
The companions of War reaching into the future for whatever they might grasp.