Vietnam Mother’s Cry

by John Robert Bland

The Vietnam mother's cry
echoed across the housing project high rise
Sharing the pain of a mother's loss
suddenly we became one big house
Embracing the moment of sorrow's path
forever entwined but we sometimes forget that
And while a son who feels like me in mama's eyes
left one day with a suitcase and an uncertain goodbye
Did not die on an unforgiving city street
by the police or from the choke of poverty
But rather from a war that we knew nothing about
killing people with names like Tran and Chau
Who looked nothing like rednecks down south
or the racists up north who shut us out
Poor child out there confused and all alone
trying to survive to get back home
Mississippi Chicago next stop Vietnam
the only job he could get goddamn!
Cemented in our minds to illustrate
forever stuck between a rock and a hard place
So as mama wiped her tears into her hands
over a war she could not comprehend
And no sooner we get over saying goodbye
there goes another Vietnam mother's cry