I thought the girls were silly, back in nineteen sixty five,
when they came out against the war, a million miles away.
Fast for peace, their buttons read, pinned to their swelling chests;
feast for war! I mocked—they fired on us—let’s blow them all away!
More intent was I on little Nancy Swope, when she shifted in her seat,
and flashed a glimpse of pink between the buttons of her blouse…
But that
day when class abruptly halted,
and on the glaring
TV screen, Johnson came to life:
My fellow Americans,
he drawled, I need a hundred thousand more…
I swear I saw the words come from his mouth, alive as they could be—
I swear I saw the words come from his mouth, alive as they could be—
I swear I
knew right then and there—they were lies, they were lies…
“Cattle Call,” David called it, when he came home to Tricky Dick,
“Cattle Call,” David called it, when he came home to Tricky Dick,
with some
shit that blew us all away—
a cattle
call it was that caught him, back in nineteen sixty six…
By nineteen sixty nine, I had a newborn child—
I carried
her one autumn night, among a million more,
up Pennsylvania Avenue, and
placed a single candle on the wall,
where a million candles cast their glow, upon the White House lawn.
That baby kept me out of war, after I quit school. Still,
I envied those more brave, who burned their cards,
And let the pigs drag them away…
where a million candles cast their glow, upon the White House lawn.
That baby kept me out of war, after I quit school. Still,
I envied those more brave, who burned their cards,
And let the pigs drag them away…
Not long
after, David took my wife and child, and I drifted west;
never was I bitter, though—I liked him anyway…
And now, by god!--fifty years have passed; David's teeth are missing—
lost to demons he brought home, that haunt him to this day.
Yes, I thought the girls were silly, though they were right—
never was I bitter, though—I liked him anyway…
And now, by god!--fifty years have passed; David's teeth are missing—
lost to demons he brought home, that haunt him to this day.
Yes, I thought the girls were silly, though they were right—
but even so—how
did they know, how did they know?