On the courthouse bench sat Crazy Fred
Answering the voices inside his head
"He's a nutcase" very many said
They just simply did not know
Fred didn't live in this space and time
He only heard and saw 1969
He heard the bullet snaps and the mortar lines
In the jungles of long, long ago
Once he'd been a bright and handsome lad
Joined the Army as his grandpa had
Made his father proud and his mother sad
When it was Charlie Company's time to go
The sun was as hot as hot can be
Above the dark green canopy
When the ground exploded, then all he could see
Was what was left of Mickey and Joe
With the best Docs the Army could find
They had fixed his body a patch at a time
The worst scars he'd shown were in his mind
The Docs weren't able to stitch his soul
How quickly we judge what we don't understand
There was a tortured boy trapped inside this man
When the call had come to make a stand
Fred had never considered saying no
Today there's seven rifle shots times three
And the bugle blows so solemnly
Beside a flag-draped coffin for all to see
That Sergeant Freddie can at last go home
K L Dennie 2024
