Back in the day
When we would meet
Upon the quay
We'd be discreet

And wrap our arms
Around each scent
Exotic charms
Of Orient

But both of us
Would not set free
Our musty lust
Adultery

My duty when
In fair Saigon
Was leading men
From rising-dawn*

Korea sent
The ROK marines
Sadistic bent
As death machines

Those early days
Our fires burned young
Entwined in praise
For love songs sung

But soon the air
Became too thick
As if despair
Was airborne sick

The numbers grew
As soldiers came
Like ants who knew
Death changed the game

The rumors spread
Through Saigon spies
The numbered dead
Were soon to rise

And you and I
Were losing heat
Which made each lie
One more defeat

This magic place
In sixty-five
Diverse of face
And so alive

Was under now
Deceitful spells
That made men make
Their man made hells

Hotel lady
Finds new favors
For her shady
War-torn labors

Add to treasured
Manly thrusting
Poppy pleasured
Narco lusting

No fancy room
To ply her trade
She trades her gloom
For poppy fade

A whore's mad schemes
Slide out of sight
As morphine dreams
Enfold the night

The CIA's
Illicit games
Had changed their ways
To napalm flames

I wonder now
Who took offense
At asking how
Man lost his sense

It was not long
And this I swear
The truth was gone
From everywhere

And soon the sin
Of choices made
Joined in the din
Of war's grenade

But I do swear
The truth today
For I was there
And in the play

For two long years
When daylight closed
We'd laugh 'till tears
Like monsoons flowed

No quickened ways
To cleanse a soul
Just long delays
In truth made whole

Sometimes at dawn
In dreams I'm cast
Back to Saigon
And you at last