{"id":1519,"date":"2015-07-09T23:37:49","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T23:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illumination2.wordpress.com\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2015-07-09T23:37:49","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T23:37:49","slug":"she-is-iwo-jima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/09\/she-is-iwo-jima\/","title":{"rendered":"She is Iwo Jima"},"content":{"rendered":"

She is Iwo Jima<\/strong><\/p>\n

She is Iwo Jima
\nMen like myself
\nHoped to survive
\nMake it to the end<\/p>\n

To plant the flag
\nAmidst the raging storm
\nTo make a stake
\nNever mind the shells<\/p>\n

But I broke myself on\u00a0her slopes
\nRemember me
\nMy bones bleached white
\nIf they remain at all<\/p>\n

The wooden cross
\nThat marked my shallow grave
\nLong ago disappeared
\nEaten by time and termites too<\/p>\n

But where would I rather be
\nThere’s no comfort anywhere
\nThere’s no going home
\nSing a dirge for the man that was<\/p>\n

The desire for glory
\nThe ache for her love
\nTrumps all reasoning
\nI – will – never – leave<\/p>\n

The endless rain
\nBrings mud and despair
\nYet even on those dark slopes
\nI look up at the skies in hope<\/p>\n

Is God smiling, or shaking his head
\nBraver men found their match
\nSome went home broken
\nThe rest became dreams<\/p>\n

These tired legs – these tattered boots
\nThese grip-less fingers – these unseeing eyes
\nThese knots in my belly
\nThis hunger in my soul<\/p>\n

29,000 ghosts call her home
\nThe sands red with their blood
\nShe won’t be taken lightly
\nNo, not her body, and not her soul<\/p>\n

When she’s good and ready
\nThe rains will stop
\nThe sun will shine
\nShe will give herself to whom she wills<\/p>\n

She is Iwo Jima
\nWin the battle lose the war
\nLose the battle win the war
\nNothing can save me now<\/p>\n

I will lay me down
\nThe boat is burnt
\nThere’s no escape
\nI embrace my fate<\/p>\n

I take my place among many
\nBroken on her shores
\nVague memories
\nBeyond redemption<\/p>\n

She is Iwo Jima<\/p>\n

07-June-2015. Hawaii.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She is Iwo Jima She is Iwo Jima Men like myself Hoped to survive Make it to the end To plant the flag Amidst the raging storm To make a stake Never mind the shells But I broke myself on\u00a0her … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[284,360,493,529,827,894,980,990,1057,1086],"class_list":["post-1519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","tag-dirge","tag-fate","tag-hunger","tag-iwo-jima","tag-redemption","tag-shore","tag-tattered","tag-termite","tag-war","tag-wooden-cross"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}