What Difference by Bill Childers

His Name was Pi Dung Hi,
We called him Pete;
He was Korean… he was my friend.
He could not speak English,
Yet we could speak,
Friendship made a perfect blend!

We met in the midst of war,
In a frozen land
Where there were few to trust.
The enemy washed your clothes
With a smiling hand
That at night delivered a bayonet thrust!

Time etched a tedious bond
Across the breech,
It’s richness was there to see.
I asked that clothes like mine
Be sent to teach
Pete to be dressed like me.

When the new clothes came
They fit Pete to a tee...
We took pictures to show it.
Yet, he remained Pete… and my friend.
He was still Pi Dung Hi...
It didn’t take clothes for me to know it!