Monday, July 28, 2014

When Johnny Came Marching Hone

To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower.
 To hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour,

We are led to believe a lie
When we see with not through the eye
Which was born in a night to die in a night
While the soul slept in beams of light.

                             William Blake


Many will look with their eyes and not see.
Many will listen with their ears and not hear.
Many will be told the truth and not believe.

Many will see, hear and know the truth
And bury their head in the sand
When their comfort zone is threatened.

Their courage to confront evil
Is overcome by personal satisfaction
Of greed, wealth and power over others.

                                Anonymous, unknown author
                                                 and
                                     modified and added
                                                to by
                                      Stephen P. Coyle


"Fear not the Path of Truth
 For the Lack of People Walking on It."    <<<   SEARCH by using this phrase
Documentary about Fallujah, Iraq,                                        with Fallujah
by a Veteran who fought there.


To TUNE OF  " WHEN JOHNNY CAME MARCHING HOME"

Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and all the violent conflicts past present and to come!

He got off the plane, looked at no-one,
Walked down the tarmac
To the direction of no-where,
Followed the sun as it was setting,

Glad to be done with all the blood letting.

There were no banners
For the proud and the few,
Just workers in airports
Doing what they do.

Fuel up the planes, unload the bags
Along with the coffins
All covered with flags
When Johnny comes marching home

When Johnny comes marching home

The town he was from
Was a deathly place
So he looked for a job
Somewhere off base

In the city of pawn shops, hotels and bars,
Gas stations, strip clubs, highways and cars,
Away from the memories
Of blood, bullets and bombs.

He went to a dive, ordered a beer,
Turn up the music, turn it up loud
So it's all that I hear,
Drown out the screams and all of the fear.

He tried to rewind, turn back the years,
And stop the explosions between his ears,
To keep his eyes from filling with tears
About orders he followed and not thinking to care,

That such orders are illegal in.......an illegal war.

When Johnny Came Marching Home, When Johnny Came Marching Home

The jobs were all taken, beer was not cheep,
Was trained as a soldier to shoot and kill,
Not to sweep any old floor
Or work as a laborer in valley
Or farm the side of a hill.

Besides there was nowhere, no way to sleep.
Still the screams and the guns
Would wake him at night.
He was always on edge
And ready to fight.

When he closed his eyes
He would just see the face
Of the woman he killed
In some far away place.
 Over and over the whites of her eyes
 And now, her terrible, terrible, terrible cries.

When Johnny Came Marching Home, When Johnny Came Marching Home.

Just a short time, health fell apart,
Aches in the joints and thumps in the heart.
The doctors just told him
It's all in your head

The tools of the soldiers trade
The bullets are made
Lethal to the enemy
But safest of all to you they say.

Depleted uranium
Flying through the air
Through, flesh, metal and rock,
Streaks of flames, fire and brimstone.

Hitting the enemy and their weapons of war
It destroys, disentigrates, contaminates
To fine particles of uranium dust it becomes,
Spreading, rising, soaring

And eventually falling everywhere,
Lifted by storms and blowing in the wind
Falling with both warm and cool breezes,
In the rains and the snows of the seasons

Soon to come home to roost
in body, clothing and boots.

But Johnny couldn't stop drinkin
Or get out of bed,
And with no place to go
But the wrong way,
It was a shock to his ears
When he heard himself say,

Over and over to anyone within range.
"Mister can you spare some loose change
Or even a small tablet of perkoset or oxycodene,
 Just so I can sleep without so much pain.

When Johnny Came Marching Home,  When Johnny Came Marching Home
                    WHEN JOHNNY CAME MARCHING HOME  
                                                  again
                                                                                               Anonymous author,

                                                                                         Many changes by,
                                                                                         Stephen P. Coyle
       

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