CDR “Duffy” Hutton, USN
HANOI, VIETNAM – SPRING 1971
Oh, porcelain cup you’ve served me well,
Thru these years of waste.
Each time I felt the need of drink,
You watered my weathered face.
When first we met many years ago,
You were bright and shiny and new.
Now you’re dull, chipped and cracked,
You’ve become aged too.
We’ve been thru a lot together,
Lo these many years.
Lots of heat, Lots of sweat,
Hours of longing and fears.
When my long days of detention are thru,
And I return at last to my home.
I will have to leave you here my friend,
Dejected–all alone.
But when I leave this forlorn place,
As my days in this hell are up.
I’ll take along the memory of you,
My old porcelain cup.