i'd like to start out by saying that, this is not an original work, so i'm not even sure if i'm allowed to post this. it's a song by a brilliant songwriter and performer by the name of tom waits. i was moved to post this after reading jerry bolton's last piece, "three dead soldier's." i, like every american should have been, was outraged when i heard the news. i had originally wanted to express this in words here (and as some of you know, i have a knack for expressing rage and disgust). my outrage, however, was replaced by grief for those brave and honorable children, who died for something they believed in, even if our own president does not. all i know is that i want our children home. now. i found that i had no words to put down, that nothing i could have written would have done them justice. i think this simple song might.
I got your letter today and I miss you all so much here I can't wait to see you all and I'm counting the days dear I still believe that there's gold at the end of the world and I'll come home to Illinois on the day after tomorrow
It's so hard and it's cold here and I'm tired of taking orders and I miss old Rockford town up by the Wisconsin border what I miss you won't believe shovelling snow and raking leaves and my plane will touch down on the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes every night and I dream that I can hold you they fill us full of lies everyone buys 'bout what it means to be a soldier I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel 'bout all the blood that's been spilled will God on his throne get me back home on the day after tomorrow?
you can't deny the other side don't wanna die anymore than we do what I'm trying to say is don't they pray to the same God that we do? and tell me how does God choose? who's prayers does he refuse? who turns the wheel who rolls the dice on the day after tomorrow?
I'm not fighting for justice I am not fighting for freedom I am fighting for my life and another day in the world here I just do what I've been told we're just gravel on the road and only the lucky ones come home on the day after tomorrow
and the summer it too will fade and with it brings the winter's frost dear and I know we too are made of all the things that we have lost here I'll be 21 today I been saving all my pay and my plane will touch down on the day after tomorrow...
copyright (and all the other legal stuff) tom waits 2006
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