They shot me down in Vietnam
and threw me in a bamboo cage
where I was tortured till I said,
"My country's wrong; life there's a sham."

Hanoi was bombed and they moved me
with others to another camp.
When isolated from the rest,
I fought to keep my sanity

in concrete bunker underground
with floor my bed and windowless.
I mostly hunkered, much ashamed
I'd lied, had not held out till found.

I told myself "You will go back!"
each day I spent confined alone
until dank heat and ceaseless dark
destroyed all hope, caused me to crack.

How long they kept me penned in there
I had no clue till I was freed
and flown back to my family
who knew me not, could only stare.