Hello all. Welcome to another BLOG entry. This entry is dedicated to a good friend of mine, David Taffet. Dave joined the Israeli army 4 years ago and just recently returned to Israel to see if he can help his comrades during a time of crisis. Dave also recently published a poem book entitled ‘Delicate Delusions’. You can buy and read more of his book at: www.davespoetry.com  
This is the 2nd poem posted on my BLOG from Dave's new book.click here to read 'The Fountain'  This is a poem about some of the time he’s spent in the army. Dave, I wish you luck and I hope you come home safe.

by: David W.L. Taffet

To my friends, I’m writing to you,
You can’t see me right now, although I wish I could see you to.
Understand, I’m out on a deed over 3 years long,
But it fills up my heart, engulfs me with joy,
And turns my thoughts into magical songs.
It’s far away, and isn’t much of a treat,
It requires up to 132 hours a week,
And doesn’t provide us with to much to eat. (In basic training)
It’s in the middle of a hell, which some people call home,
We don’t think of this place as much, preferring it to be unknown.
Days in and nights to, we’re on some post upon the edge,
Scanning with our night vision, and a machine gun over the ledge.
We trained real hard to get here, through situations you couldn’t even think of,
We suffered for over a half a year, which made us crazy and compulsive.

Throwing grenades, sleeping in holes,
Hiking for eternity and paying our tolls.
We did what most people don’t do,
Yet we still carry on, and always follow through.

Firing our weapons side by side, trusting the other with our lives,
We have a bond I can’t explain,
We know when someone’s sad, and of course when they are glad,
Rarely there’s a feeling among us that’s left detained.

It’s easy to understand someone, when you harness the same vibes,
Here there’s a connection as one, although from different tribes.

How we were all scared at the same time,
And remember that moment, you thought you were dying.

These are the things that brought us together,
Unbearable physical training for months,
Being yelled at like little runts,
And sleeping in the middle of nowhere in all types of weather.

You’re still with me today, 9 months after I first hated your ass,And for the time being we’ve grown up, boys into adults,
I’d now take a bullet for you................................................. and smile as I pass.
All this adventure, and we’re not even half way done,
There’s currently an ambush in front of our post,
As we’re forbidden to shoot left of the stadium.

Well, I’ll wind it down, 278 days have just flashed through my head,
If you have any questions, but not for now,
You can ask me the next time I get out of bed.
From check points, to chase downs, searching cars and suspicious people,
Aiming our guns at their heads, playing G-d with our choices,

And just realizing.......................................................... we’re pretty lethal.

Shimshon Kavod

DavesPoetry.Com © 2006 By David W. L. Taffet