Viet Nam Trigger

Today, a BIG,  pain infested sadness
Punched me without warning. 
As it snuck onto the surface 
Of my tongue.
It hid deep in the scent, 
As I drank a Heineken beerIn a Vietnamese restaurant.
That all too familiar scent 
Of the beer that I had drunk
When our ship sailed away
From the war
To repair and to replenish
In Subic Bay.
That cruel heartless sadness
Grabbed my umbilical cord
And yanked me across the Pacific Ocean
All the way back to Viet Nam. 
All the way back to 1972,
My tears drip.
I try to grip
Something, anything
That convinces me 
That 1972 is only a memory
It is only the sadness
That can hurt me now.

And I thank God

That sadness is temporary.