Virgil Chabre

She was all I had left from the war

Waited patiently for me to return

I saw her every time I closed my eyes

She was always there

But my eyes are afraid to close 

Anymore

There was a fire burning in the night

It was another dream

The dreams overtake me

Giant centipedes crawl in the darkness

Waiting for their next sting

I cannot separate reality from dreams

The war consumed me

Agent Orange crawling on my body

Never-ending rain

Snub nosed monkey swats a mosquito

The feast is over

I stood alone in the darkness

Looking at the body on the ground

Lifeless 

Friendly fire they would say

But there was nothing friendly about it

He dropped a grenade

Afraid to let it leave his hand

Self-destruction or collateral damage

The jungle on fire around us

I clutch my dog tags to my chest

Look at my toes to try to keep the dog tags away

I close my eyes and see the tunnels

I pull a body out

The sun shines today

The jungle is empty

Silence fills the air

A water buffalo stops by

Looking for food or water

He is alone

I hold her tonight but keep my eyes open

Afraid of my dreams

The smell of burning flesh and napalm fills the air

My eyes must stay open

I must face reality

Prepare for the day tomorrow 

Some say tomorrow will be a new day

But nothing is new after war

Just the sound of ammo in the night

And friendly fire

I remember when I arrived passing him

He was leaving Vietnam

On his way home

The words that came out of his mouth

Stayed with me

“The enemy is in the distance,

You will find them,

Watch your friends

They cannot be trusted

This is war”

How could I describe

You to someone

I could say you

Look like Julia Roberts

But you do not

Or you are sexy like Sharron Stone

But that falls short also

You are like electricity

A current running

Through veins

You can take darkness

Make it light

You can change light

Into darkness

You can take the cold

Give it warmth

Or on the warmest days

You can send chills

Down the spine

You have the ability

To recharge people 

At their lowest times

Full force energy

From your soul

You can give a shock

Leaving those you 

Meet trembling

Wondering what hit them

As they recover from your touch

You are electricity

Not Afraid of Tomorrow

For: Hannah

I saw her walking today

Moving in the shadows

That follow her

On sunny days

She has seen light

She has seen darkness

It is all in her journey

Through life

She is not afraid of tomorrow

For she has seen yesterday

And today

And knows

The future is distance away

And distance is not measured

By time

There will be roads

That will lead to storms

Sunshine will follow rain

Leaving a rainbow in time

Stardust is all that remains

From falling stars

Granting wishes

To those

Who have no fear

Of tomorrow

She was a stranger I saw
Out of the corner of my eye
She did not look like Lady Gaga
Or Marilyn Monroe
She was younger
With dark hair
And glasses

A photograph I could file away
In my mind

I did not realize
I must have been staring at her
As I tried to focus my eyes
On the curve of her lips
As she sat silently
Sipping upon a cola

But when I got up and left
And looked back
She blew me a kiss
A stranger I will never forget
Filed away forever
In my mind under
A kiss that slipped away from me

Standing There

She was a raving beauty

Blonde hair flowing down her back

Standing there alone

As dance music filled the air

I watched closely as she

Turned down dance after dance

I wanted to get to know her

Feeling left out

I approached her

But words failing me I just stood 

Next to her

She refused dance after dance

As I stood silently

Unable to start a conversation

When she was approached

Once again to dance

She turned in one swift move

Grabbed my hand

And said I am with someone

I felt the warmth of her hand

Run clear through my spine

She said can I be with you tonight

I am tired of the guys asking me to dance

She then led me to the dance floor

And we danced

It was the start of a relationship

With the touch of a hand

And a dance

That I will never forget

for:  Veronica

Born in Wyoming

Among the sagebrush

And antelope

In the dusty fields of mining

Subsidence shaking

The earth below

She has the strength of a dragon

The wisdom of Minerva

She felt the world

On her shoulders

and stumbled

But did not fall

She had the ability

To balance her life on a tightrope

The fortitude

To lead and not follow

She walked on solid ground

As the earth swallowed

Those around her

Not afraid of yesterday

Looking forward toward tomorrow

The future on her mind

She found solitude

Among the forests of Idaho

A new journey

In a life filled with stones

She learned to smile

Walk a mile

And not look back

Always enjoying the present

The future unlimited

She found the true meaning of life

She found herself

For:  Hailee

She wants to go to Wyoming
Experience the mountains
Where snow never melts
The wind blows strong
But hearts stay warm

I can see her now
Bundled up in four layers
Of clothing
Seeing the frost on her nose
Her breath in the cold air

Running through the snow
Making snow angels
A snowman
Or just sliding down a hill

Finding life away from the Arizona sun
That can melt your soul
And leave you cold inside
Unable to find a reason
To carry on in life

She understands life
Always chasing freedom
But in the Wyoming air
Freedom is chasing her

It is all a vision she sees
Reflected in the eyes
That tell many stories
And yet
Leaves many stories untold

  When someone asks us
 Where we are from
 We smile and say
 We're from under Wyoming
 The land of our fathers
 And their fathers too
 It's in our blood
 The earth within us
 We're not happy in the sunshine
 We spend our days
 And nights in tunnels
 Where darkness is our friend
 The gophers and prairie dogs
 Live above us
 In tunnels of their own
 Sometimes they don't understand
 The sounds down below
 In the winter when they sleep
 They dream of metal monsters
 Digging in the earth below
 When spring comes
 Sometimes they are awakened early
 By the sound of fireworks
 Before the fourth of July
 We work the earth
 Like a farmer works the surface
 Following the steps
 Our fathers took
 They walk in our shadows
 Protecting us from the sun 

I was born

A coal miner’s son

Watching my father

Come home

Covered in black dust

When he was

Not breathing coal dust

He smoked cigarettes

I heard him wheezing

And coughing in the night

Unable to catch his breath

Black Lung they called it

The disease of coal miners

The black earth

Took away their ability

To breathe

As I witnessed him

Fighting to take

His last breath

I cannot answer 

All of your questions

Or place meaning 

In the emptiness

That surrounds you

I can only give you

Some time

To think about today

And not worry about yesterday

Or have any fears

About tomorrow

Today is the memory

We will build upon

Without barriers

To provide a ray of light

That can be remembered

At the darkest time

We may face alone

For: Lori

She is a treasure

An angel

But she cannot fly

She does not have wings

Yet she is swift and smooth

On a racquetball court

Precise in every swing

She is a true caregiver

Her personality thrives on giving

To her life is not measured

By the ticking of a clock

Or the beating of a heart

But by the breath

That you take

Living life

One breath at a time

My father was a coal miner

He had Black Lung disease

Pneumoconiosis (CWP)

Coal dust hiding in his lungs

An oxygen cylinder by his side

It would have been positive 

To have someone like her

By his side

As He was fighting 

To take his last breath

The desert heat doesn’t bother me

Not the empty space across the horizon

Or the scorpion moving across the sand

What bothers me

Are the dreams I haven’t had

The hands I forgot to touch

The mystery in the eyes

I never solved

Or walking away

When I should have stayed a moment longer

So many things lost in life

Like the silence following a poem

I never read

We talk from long distance spaces

Where an echo can be heard between us

It works out so much better that way

If we get too close

We become lost in thoughts and phrases

As the words we speak

Get in the way of our relationship

So I’ll continue to say hello

From where I stand

And all you have to do is wave

And I’ll know

It does not mean

Good-bye

She said there

Are homeless people

But security

To calm your fears

But I do not fear

The homeless

I fear the men in suits

Working on Capital hill

Causing pain

Far deeper than a homeless person

Searching for shelter