WEEP FOR YESTERDAY
A Trilogy of Poems by Charles Schwiderski, Thurman P. Woodfork, and Colin F. Jones

Part 1:
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A ROBIN WEEP?

The song said don't stop thinking about tomorrow,
tomorrow will be better than before; yesterday's
gone, yesterday's gone. If the singers only knew
that yesterday will never go away...
yesterday can never go away.

The song asked if you ever saw a robin weep when
leaves begin to die, and said that means he's lost
the will to live. I ask if you ever saw your friends
die and if you did, do the tears ever stop falling, do
you retain the will to live?

I'm so lonesome I could cry.

I remember a young Montagnard soldier and I
shooting small stones at passing ground leeches,
laughing happily together, enjoying our deep
friendship. Then, I remember later in the same day -
when he pushed me to the ground and took the bullet
meant for me.

Should the song say, I'm so lonesome I wanna die?

©Copyright June 20, 2006 by Charles Schwiderski

Part 2:
WHEN ROBINS WEEP

When robins weep and sorrow creeps
through minds with memories so sad,
do soldiers weep alone in their sleep
mourning old friends they once had?

They're so bereaved - their shoulders
heave as the bitter tears start to flow;
and how they grieve as thoughts reweave
those scenes from times long ago.

Yes, they cry as friends again die
in jungles and heights far from home;
though streets may teem, in forlorn
dreams they feel so lost and alone.

So we must pray those yesterdays
will fade and finally drift away,
as welcome peace brings sweet
release: tomorrow's a kinder day.

©Copyright June 20, 2006 by Thurman P. Woodfork

Part 3:
IT IS ALWAYS TODAY

~ 1 ~

It is always today; never tomorrow.
All we know comes from the past,
Be it happy thought or unpleasant sorrow,
We are, what our minds have amassed.

~ 2 ~

What we now are, was moulded by time,
Structured with all we have done.
Though we tread water, our lives still decline
And we lose everything that we have won.

~ 3 ~

What we can't change, we have to accept;
For passed time can't be retrieved
No matter how much we've silently wept;
Nothing more than release is achieved.

~ 4 ~

Everyone dies: be it as soldiers in war
Or as old men who whither away.
We may ask the question, "What is it all for?"
But still, we die and decay.

~ 5 ~

Children and mothers – they also died
Under the smoke of our chattering guns.
Politicians and journalist, most of them lied,
But yesterday still never comes.

~ 6 ~

We cannot revive all the victims of war.
And feeling sorry takes no pain away.
Those who protested are protesting no more
For we are still fighting our wars today.

~ 7 ~

For when they stood up, calling it wrong,
We called them traitors for condemning the war.
Now we the protestors are singing their song,
Wiser by far than before.

~ 8 ~

But time will repeat the dreams in our sleep,
And for the suffering many will pray.
But nothing will change so long as we weep
For our yesterdays that continue today.

©Copyright June 21, 2006 by Colin F. Jones

Awarded: June 23, 2006