Oh, Donny Boy
(tune: O Danny Boy
Aka Londonderry Air)
Oh, Donny boy, the bombs, the bombs are falling
From site to site, and o’er the countryside.
Their missiles are gone, and all the tyrants dying.
‘Tis you, ‘tis you must go, and they must bide
Don’t come you back and the ships will be sailing;
Oil when your tirade’s hushed, no more wailing.
‘Tis you who stops everyone from exhaling
Oh Donny boy, oh Donny boy, stop your flailing.
And if you stop before all possible hopes are dying
And we aren’t dead, as dead we well may be,
You can say anything even if you are lying
And claim the world’s bigly-est victory.
And you come home to your homegrown enemy
And all your dream fights still sweet as can be
And you’ll find someone else for your fury.
We will spend less fighting domestically.
Remembering Memorial Day
Do you remember Memorial Day
Beyond the Indy 500 Speedway?
At which soldier’s grave do you decorate,
His or her service to commemorate?
Is it merely the summer’s starting gun,
Time to shed winter and soak in some sun?
A holiday without too much holy --
Get outside and pass the ravioli!
Lest we forget, we’d once solemnly say,
Of why the sacrifices our war dead pay.
Whether their true causes were won or lost,
They did not see for what they paid the cost.
As a boy, it was the day I hated war;
It caused only grief, pain and loss, I swore.
I’d never partake, never support it --
I wished war to end if we ignored it.
Childish wishes ride on butterfly wings --
We learn to not count on such fragile things.
With distrust in peace, we prepare for worse,
Blaming human nature which is our curse.
Although they did not go to war to die,
They seldom knew what else was left to try.
Their deaths are not defeat nor victory.
But enduring steps in our history.
