There’s a hilltop there in Vietnamdeserted, cold and bare —Except for one old rotted crossthat few men know is there.It stands there, oh so all aloneamidst the mud and mire —Stained with blood of men who diedno flowers, just barbed wire.It’s here sometimes my thoughts are foundback to that lonely cross —I think back of a friend I hadand by that cross I lost.As friends, we shared our food and drinkin war our lives were one —We fought and thought we’d never losea war that wasn’t won.No, brothers not, but closer stillwe shared a life of hell —Until that day, God called your nameand on that hill you fell.But rest in peace, my dearest friendI think of you yet still —My mind goes back to that old crossatop that lonely hill.Marvin Reed Jr.1st Cavalry InfantryVietnamLehighton