The Wind Beneath My Wings

~You are my dream my every night

first my thought come morning light~

~Throughout the day I ponder you

to let you know my feelings true~

~You are my soul within a fire

in that it burns of love’s desire~

~You are my hope a new begin

my reason be to transcend~

~In that I live you give me peace

you are my life’s serenity~

~You are the air in that I breathe

you are the blood my lifeline bleeds~

~You are the beat in of my heart

you are the sun my morning start~

~You are the moon my guiding light

when I am blind you give me sight~

~You are the rose in springtime bloom

you are the scent of sweet perfume~

~You are the rain of nature’s life

you are the awe in all one’s blithe~ 

~You are the song the Angels sing

you are the wind beneath my wings~

~You lift me up when I am down

you take away from me my frown~

~You are the warmth in fire burn

you are my one and every yearn~

~This be that my feelings true

in all I am I love you do~

Duke Sherman

PTSD Is Very Real

 ~Why do things happen in life

to bring to a man so much strife~

~To fill his soul with that of such pain

as if to bind him with a weighted chain~

~So great his sadness he cannot bare

no one to love no one to care~

~His thoughts are full of but why

 often he ponders his own demise~

~He fought in the war so long ago

a very young man of just eighteen years old~

~PTSD’s real has it does he

a gift from hell total misery~

~Afraid to sleep stays awake in the night

to sleep would return him back to the fight~

~He’s suffered for years causing but grief

leaving him in shock and that of bereave~

~Memories of friends felled by the war

the taking of life so many the horror~

~Silently he cries God help me please

take from me this terrible disease~

~To know in my life peace once again

a Blessing my God please will you send~

Duke Sherman

I Want

 

I want to live a peaceful life,

without my mind entwined in strife!

To live a life of dignity,

and get along in harmony!

To be respected by my peers,

and wipe away all my fears!

To have a love who will last,

and never ask about the past!

To keep my family close to me,

and see my youngest earn a degree!

To hear my Mother’s voice again,

and be with her in the end!

To see peace again within our land,

and “Love thy neighbor” by every man!

To write a book of Poetry,

in my heart it’s close to me!

To visit the Hero’s Memorial wall,

pay tribute to those I seen fall!

Finally when my last day comes,

my epitaph read by my Sons!

Be buried with Honors of a Soldier,

and leave my Flag to my Daughter!

Be remembered for the good I’ve done,

and not forgotten by anyone!

Duke Sherman

Thác Voi (Elephant Waterfalls) South Vietnam

 

Once I sat below a Waterfall,

serine and quite beautiful!

Water pure and always flowing,

her magnificence was adoring!

Here I was in the middle of a war,

never had I felt such peace before!

Hills painted by God himself,

the scene worth a World’s wealth!

The last few days had been unbearable,

suddenly for a time it wasn’t so terrible!

We’d been fighting just an hour’s past,

now we sat peacefully in aghast!

Those twenty minutes sitting below the Falls,

was so Heavenly and surreal!

God guided us down the path of Serenity,

and gave us peace from the enemy!

When sometimes I'm feeling sad,

I think of the falls and it’s not so bad!

Sgt Duke Sherman

G-Troop, 2/11 ACR

Black Horse Soldier

Vietnam Veteran

1971-1972