A COLLECTION OF DIMES






YOU WENT OFF WHEN I WAS SMALL
WAY BACK IN NINETEEN SIXTY-NINE
YOU GAVE ME YOUR COIN COLLECTION OF DIMES
TO HOLD FOR YOU WHEN I WAS NINE
WAY BACK IN 1969, WHEN I THOUGHT EVERYTHING WAS FINE.

YOU JOINED THE ARMY, I WAS BARELY EIGHT,
IT WAS BACK LATE IN 1968.
YOU WERE MY BROTHER AND I LOVED YOU, NATE
BACK WHEN I WAS YOUNG IN 1968.
I DIDN'T KNOW FROM WAR AND HATE---
AT EIGHT YOU KNOW OF STAYIN' UP LATE,
WAY BACK IN 1968.

IN 1970 YOU WERE SENT VERY FAR AWAY---
I REMEMBER MAMA CRYIN ON THAT RAINY DAY,
YOU SAID YOU'D WRITE HOME A LOT
AND I COULD HAVE YOUR ROOM AND COT,
IN 1970 I WAS TEN
AND I COULD WRITE BACK TO YOU THEN.
IT WAS SUMMER AND IT WAS VERY HOT---
IN 1970 MAMA GOT A NOTE THAT YOU'D BEEN SHOT.

IT WAS 1971 WHEN YOU CAME BACK HOME
YOU DIDN'T TALK, YOU JUST SAT IN YOUR ROOM ALONE;
I WAS OLDER AND GAVE YOU BACK YOUR DIMES---
YOU SAID TO KEEP THEM UNTIL YOU WERE FEELING FINE.
IT WAS SNOWING THAT JANUARY OF 1971,
BUT YOU STARED OUT THE WINDOW AS STILL AS STONE
AND I WAS SCARED OF BEING GROWN IN 1971.

THEN I WAS TWELVE IN 1972---
EVERYONE WAS HAPPY 'CAUSE YOU SEEMED BETTER TOO,
BACK IN NOVEMBER OF 1972
WHEN FROST REPLACES THE MORNING DEW.

MAMA WAS BAKING A CAKE AND COOKING STEW
AND YOU DIED IN YOUR ROOM BACK IN 1972.
MAMA SAID, "THERE WAS NOTHING ANYONE COULD DO"
I SAID, "I THINK THE WAR HAD DONE THIS TO YOU"
MAMA SAID, "SOMETIMES YOU GET PNEUMONIA FROM A FLU."
BUT SHE WAS LYING BACK IN 1972.

I'M OLDER BUT I'M STILL CONFUSED.
DID WE WIN A VICTORY OR DID WE LOSE?
I STILL HAVE THE DIMES FOR ALL TIME---
BUT I AIN'T GOT A BROTHER CALLED NATE THAT'S MINE,
AND MAMA TAKES ME TO SEE YOU EVERY WEEKEND---
WE CRY AS SHE CLEANS OFF THE SLAB OF CEMENT.
I DIDN'T KNOW NOTHIN' BACK IN 1969---
AND ALL I KNOW NOW IS I GOT A COLLECTION OF DIMES
THAT MY BROTHER GAVE ME BACK IN 1969.