John Doe

There was this wise man I once knew Who lived down my street a block or 2 In a back alley where the autumn leaves blew A simple man with a heart so true John Doe was a quiet man, who kept to himself and lived off the land He panned his living with a rusty tin can Been living off the streets since Vietnam When Johnny came marching home From the Vietnam war he was alone Slapped with a label, he hid his face, the nightmare of war Was one he couldn抰 erase, when Johnny came marching home (He said) I can抰 let go, I can抰 forget 25 years later, that smell I still remember As I watched so many young men lose their lives, on that battlefield To Vietnam they sent us barely, old enough they placed us On the front lines in a land we had no place匴e had no place! On the day I left that battlefield, I might as well have died Because nothing in my life this far, has ever felt quite right And each and everyday I try to pick the pieces up But the pieces never seem to fit, the pain becomes too much It's hard to describe, so hard to relate, it's hard letting go When you can't escape To think that when we came home our country turned its back And labeled us all murderers, spit on us, spit on us and laughed He spoke with such convicting words, I felt like I was there A simple frail and shattered soul, the soldier never dies he sang I thought about how it must feel to watch all your friends die So far away so far from home, fighting wars we had no place!