By Fritz Crytzer
This is about an Army deployment to the Saudi Arabian desert during OPERATION DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM.
PAVILION IN THE DESERT
Green, sandy green, a shelter where
war machines are pampered, repaired and prepared
for the next day’s missions
seven days a week except for an hour, on Sunday.
Then the dust blows in and settles on souls,
human war machines, who are just as broken
as the technologies they repair.
99 percent on iron, 1 percent on flesh,
the time is spent, judiciously.
PATRIOTS fly, push a button
COORDINATES COMPUTED, push a button
MACHINES are heroes, push a button
FIX the systems, expeditiously.
We repair these war machines,
Circuits and iron, when they are broken..
But who repairs us, when we break down
and those who push the button?
Who makes sure the sandy green shelter
Is a pavilion for the flesh
as well as the machine?
Once in a while . . once in a while . .
And an hour every Sunday,
God, you, and I.
-FRITZ CRYTZER