One of my last evenings on VBC is spent poolside...
Off in the distance, the smoke of a VBIED rises over a late afternoon sky...
And in end-of-tour fashion, I continue sunning on a near-perfect day...
Later, I return to Victory to find smoke cleared... and a lit pool...
And Al Faw looming like a ship on a watery horizon...
I see an Arabian palm suspended by light...
And ashen mural offering inspiration to a different regime...
And a palace parapet with a Saddam bass...
There are lost lines of war zone patrons... sippers of lattes and nibblers of pastries...
And empty cabana chairs of those who retreated indoors for the evening...
