The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #21046   Message #223029
Posted By: Amergin
04-May-00 - 02:09 PM
Thread Name: BS: Kent State
Subject: RE: BS: Kent State
Just wrote this a few minutes ago. My tribute to Kent State:

Lament of a Guardsman
(tune: Long Black Veil) Thirty years ago on the Fourth of May
Four students died that warm spring day
The people who ran they all agreed
The man with the gun looked a lot like me
Now I walk these halls water in my eyes
I still hear out night all the mournful cries
Nobody sees all the dropping tears
Nobody wants to hear

The protest was hot, and tensions were high
When a shot rang out, I saw the first one die
I said not a word, but fired into the crowd
The stains on my hands, echo oh so loud

We were a-firing, and tossing the tear gas bombs
While they went running across the common lawns
And when the smoke had cleared, it was painful to hear
The cries of the dying and the wounded so near

I was just a boy and little did I know
That on that fateful spring day, I lost my soul
Still I walk these halls, water in my eyes
I still hear at night all the mournful cries

Nobody sees all the dropping tears
Nobody wants to hear

P.S. I wasn't there either, was only born 4 years later. But that doesn't stop me from feeling the pain, the anger, the sorrow for those that were shot down and for those that did the shooting. Let us not forget. Blessed be.

Amergin