To The Gulf Poem by James McLain

I must drive over again to the gulf
I must go yet again and again
though I am feeling ill
the sun is now even to me to hot
the illness springs not from winters
fall or even from summer just past
over head the helicopters they fly
guarding the coast
waiting perhaps for me to die
a soldiers prayer
to drown or to be eaten by a shark
the waves today were high
I no longer know
why I only know i must try
the water still parts for me.