Water is life, it blesses us from the heavens,
yet, in nineteen fifty-three until nineteen eighty-seven,
a betrayal of the ones who committed to oaths sworn,
on the Camp Lejeune base-
a tragic disgrace,
as clear flowing death brought cancers, birth defects,
how could those years keep going by,
and continue to harm the warriors
of the proud words, "Semper Fi".

Retired Marine master sergeant Jerry Ensminger
and his family lived there,
his young daughter, Janey, a victim-
heartfelt despair,
shadows of lost dreams gone in the air.