He was northern big city,
I was southern small town.
He was a draftee
With attitude.
I was regular army
Not yet disillusioned.

I had a girlfriend back home,
He had a harem.
He thought he knew everything,
I had a lot to learn.

He was an atheist,
I’d become an agnostic.
Fate placed us
Together in a foxhole
Twelve thousand miles
From familiar settings.


But when the earth trembled
And hot shrapnel flew
We caressed the wetness of our shelter,
Became one with the mud,
And we prayed.

We prayed for strength,
We prayed for deliverance,
We prayed for forgiveness,
We promised our souls.

When the battle paused
He went left
I went right,
Never to share
Such intimacies again.

But I’ll always recollect
That depression in the land,
Where we hugged His earth,
Cried out His name.

That place where
North and South
Found common ground.

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