The Last Sky

The fall of Long Cheng (Sky Base), 1975

Twenty thousand

pairs of eyes

scan the sky

for signs

of lifeboats—C-130s

to rescue us

from our

Clear Valley, our last fortress

that has become

our valley of deathtrap:

enemy columns surround

the hills,

enemy tanks blockade

the roads,

slowly 
moving in

to kill.

Finally,

three C-130s arrive

like a wing

of birds—three bright eagles

landing, rolling

in a line

down the runway.

The crowd parts

and reforms

like waves
around a ship
at sea, scrambling

into

the cargo holds.

Families

try

to stay

together,

but wives

separated

from 
husbands, 
children

from

grandparents.

The cargo holds 
quickly
filled, 
the ramps

start

to rise.

People fall

in clumps

to the hard

asphalt.

An infantry

major grabs

his oldest

son,
boosting

him

into the last gap

of the closing

ramp.

The birds

turn,

roll
down

the runway
of Sky Base
for the last
time,

lift,

and lumber

into

the last

Sky.