Boy we’re moving fast through the first part of three for my poem epic. Part I is split into seven segments and covers various angles of WWII. Here for you is Segment 5 about the Battle of Iwo Jima and the flag raising atop Mt. Suribachi, a moment that I always find moving when I read about it. Just think, two whole other parts (also each containing seven poems) to go! Thanks so much to all of you for sticking with it thus far and I hope it continues to move you!
LET ME TELL YOU HOW I DIED
PART I – SEGMENT 5
Iwo Jima
It’s a small spit of land in the ocean so blue
But we must have it, it’s what we’ve come to do
We crawl ashore at this isolated place
And the tropical sun burns hot on our face
The sand is black, crafted in hell
The whole place is covered with a terrible smell
The enemy hides out in caves underground
It’s impossible to see them sneaking around
They hit us with guns, with artillery and fire
Still we blast up the hillside, we won’t retire
Men fall around me, blown all apart
We must reach the top, we must not lose heart!
Suddenly, I see something through the hellish smoke
Something I know, my passion invoked
There it is! Old Glory, waving on a flag pole
At the top of Suribachi, we’ve done it! Our goal!
But that glorious flag is the last thing I will see
Because it was then that the grenade with my name found me
Blasted me to pieces, I’m lost in the heat
Carry on Marines, for we do not retreat
To Be Continued…
To read an intro to this poem epic and how it came about, as well as the first segment, “The Blitz,” click here.
For segment two, “Stalingrad,” click here
For segment three, “Pearl Harbor,” click here
And segment four, “Normandy”… here.