University of Virginia Library

Mind-Breaking Absurdity

While they may have complained
about all the mind-breaking absurdity
of nearly constant cleaning
and polishing of everything in sight,
they nevertheless accepted it with,
one thinks, a secret bit of joy.

For they were working, you see,
for that precious "gold bar." They
had at last found a goal; and more,
they had found someone to tell
them precisely how and when to do
everything necessary to attain it.

They were men who adjusted
readily, who accepted "the program,"
who always obeyed and
who feared more than anything
being left behind "the program."
The other half of their wholeness
was the Army.

And then there are the Vietnamese.