Every time I play this song I thank my lucky stars that I never saw combat during my tour of service. This song goes out to all those who answered the call and ended up going through a hell the rest of us will thankfully never know.
I am the vet on your street
You give spare change but you don’t speak.
I am a pest to you I know
Just hear my story before you go.
Pulled out of school when I turned nineteen
I got a gun and a dry canteen
Sent to a land that was not my own
To fight with men in their own home
Shot a man heard him cry
As I watched in horror I heard him die
Never will forget the sound
The shot keeps rolling round and round
Every night I see his face
Memories I can’t erase.
I was just a kid how could I know
How all I’d done would haunt me so
Tried every drug to forget
But nothing has eased my soul yet.
It’s three o’clock and I can’t sleep
So I’m out walking on some street
The lucky snore in rags at doors
Or find comfort in the arms of whores
It came down to him or me
Couldn’t talk couldn’t flee
Just the flash of an eye
Nothing left to do but cry
Never even knew his name
I mourn his death just the same
So here I am on this street
Fighting demons I can’t defeat
It may seem that I am weak
But it’s forgiveness that I seek.
I am the vet on your street
You give spare change but you don’t speak
I am a pest to you I know
Please, know my story before you go.
C 2007 Steve Hohstadt
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