I met him in a high rise
One sunny afternoon
Young priest I was out visiting the folk
Same age we were mid twenties
He just passing through
Going home, home to Roanoke
I’d been cooped up in seminary
Six years imprisonment
Now let out to walk the roads of life
And he’d been somewhere else
I didn’t like to think
It wasn’t peaceful it was full of strife
We said hello and chatted
We never met again
But the look upon his face I still retain
While I’d been stuck in Shropshire
Staring out at fields
He’d been in a jungle
Vietnam
Brian Fahy
10 November 2021