AGENT ORANGE

AGENT ORANGE

It flowed like a cloud
Ground bound crop dusting
An odd orange yellow mist
Silently from the trees
Sweeping into our clearing

Expecting this as riot gas
We all held our breath
Couldn’t under stand why
No sounds of a near battle
Riot gas in an empty jungle

It had an odd burnt taste
more like dust than mist
slowly moving covering us
wondering what this stuff is
and why dump it in a jungle

Days later we all had colds
Respiratory problems began
Sneezing and feeling odd
The fevers and chills came next
The medics didn’t have a clue

Years later came more knowledge
learning why all the trees died
Something called agent orange
I remembered the odd dust
Encountered in that clearing