Random Lines A World Away

Rows and rows of old memories gone by,
His stare, fixated, old tire eyes
They see wounded beaches
Scarred, grassy plains of battered France
He blinks and remembers
When life was but chance
He still sees the wood of that old M-1 
Recalls the feeling of extinguishing
Those fierce, German sons
He hears the cries of young warriors
Their sacrifices heard in their blood-soaked screams
The only relief,
In American dreams
Photograph memories of the laughs in between
When they rested at night,
Before marching on
Into the tepid rays,
Of one more dawn
Recollection of quiet fears
That crept through his mind
Just as shot and shell started to whine
Never will he forget the ominous sound
Of Panzers crawling towards them
On crumbling French ground
He sat quietly, waiting for hell
The resonating fury, as fire fell
But at once he comes back
To those columns of cold, lonely stone
Reminders of boys
Who died for their home