Reading Byron once more

 

Byron fled to Europe.  I fled
Wilmington at a younger age
To Korea and Japan – merely a
PFC I could not match
His wanderings, traveling
To Kunsan, Cheju Island,
Two trips to Japan.

When my tour ended
I saw Treasure Island,
Twenty-Nine Palms and
Pendleton which I didn’t
Need to leave but did
Having read Byron
In the base library.

Was it honorable
To settle down in
Aerospace or continue
Seeing the places at hand,
Vietnam, Nicaragua, Panama?
I was at those times reading poetry
And diving off San Pedro’s shore.

I never wanted more
Than what I had:
Not the belletristic wealth
That Byron, Crane, Pound
And others sought; which
Ought not to preclude
The poems it seems to me.