Driveway Legends (For Dave)

So does it  all start to seem
    like shadows
Or does it all start to seem
    more real?
Do the lines get more blurry
Between what you see and
    what you feel?
And does it all become really
    just a world of pain
So much so that you want to let
    it all go?
And would you do it all again,
And what about it should we know?



Winners out, everything  back
Game is to eleven
Doctor heal me, Magic trick me
Black Jesus whirl me to heaven
If Sidney Moncrief could really fly
We’d  all wish we could get up so high

Once I got up quick over
    your shoulder               
Tipped it back in before you could
    get off the ground
We'd shoot all night and listen
    to the sufferers
Partake ourselves when there
    was no one else around
And one time I beat you
    one-on-one
And all you said was, All right,
    let's do it again
I wish there was something I could
    say to you like that
    right now
Instead of I guess I'll be seeing you,
    my friend


Winners out, everything back
Game is to eleven
Doctor heal me, Magic trick me
Black Jesus whirl me to heaven
If  Sidney Moncrief could really fly
We’d all wish we could get up so high

Who's going to take that last shot and why?
Who wants that ball in his hands?
And who is it that you're really playing for?
Yourself, the others, or those clowns 
    in the stands?
And when that ball rolls away someone has 
    to go get it
Beyond the halo of the lights all is black
You can't see nothing out into that darkness
And if you venture out there there ain't no telling if
        you'll ever come back


Winners out, everything  back
Game is to eleven
Doctor heal me, Magic trick me
Black Jesus whirl me to heaven
If Sidney Moncrief could really fly
We’d all wish we could get up so high

Well back then hardly no one else
    was knowing
That you should be praying
    to asphalt gods
Now there’s too many coaches
    and there ain’t no miracles
Just the percentages and beating
    the odds
Not in the wind, not in the quake
But in some small still quiet space
Not in the words, not in the grace
In the laughter and the bones
    of your hollow face


Winners out, everything  back
Game is to eleven
Doctor heal me, Magic trick me
Black Jesus whirl me to heaven
If Sidney Moncrief could really fly
We’d all wish we could get up so high

Be quick but don’t hurry, the old coach said
For when you hurry you make mistakes
The subtle rules the dense, and you must endure
Your going forth as your coming hence
Nothing has changed, nothing at all
Said my hoopster from his deathbed
I have all the time in the world
I have all the time in the world


Winners out, everything  back
Game is to eleven
Doctor heal me, Magic trick me
Black Jesus whirl me to heaven
If Sidney Moncrief could really fly
We’d all wish we could get up so high



Hey, Dave we were driveway legends
Hey, Dave, we were driveway legends
Hey, Dave, we were driveway legends
We had all the time in the world
Hey, Dave, we were driveway legends
Hey, Dave, we were driveway legends
We had all the time in the world
All the time in the world
Be quick but don’t hurry
You have all the time in the world

Dave Campbell (Death of a Drummer)

    Sky the color of the ashes         
    River the color of the sky
    Didn’t come here expecting answers
    So there’s no sense asking why
    Didn’t come here expecting answers
    So all I’ll do is say goodbye
    But who will keep the rhythm for us?
    Who will keep the time?

    Some will rock, and some will roll
    Need do both to save your soul
    And as for what beauty is
    That I still don’t know

    We crossed that bridge when we 
        came to it
    And we got to the other side
    A girl with a flower in her hair was 
        pouring clear blue fire
    She did it so beautifully I finally broke     
        down and cried
    She asked if I was okay, and I said yeah
    It was just that a friend of mine had died
    We threw roses in the river
    And watched him go out with the tide
    Now who will keep the rhythm for us
    Who will keep the time?

    Some will rock, and some will roll
    Need do both to save your soul
    And as for what beauty  is
    That I still don’t know

    Make haste slowly
    Is something the wise used to say
    Don’t know if it’s something that’s still said
    But it’s still true today
    For the quick and for the grateful dead
    And for all the sojourners along the way
    “People scare me and I seem to scare them
    I guess that means we’re even
    I’ve only ever felt comfortable in the company of artists, writers, and musicians
    So where is Satchmo when you need him?
    Music is the only thing that’s ever been mine
    I rebelled against everything, and I stayed with my own kind”
    Now who will keep the rhythm for us?
    Who will keep the time?

    Some will rock, and some will roll
    Need do both to save your soul
    And as for what beauty  is
    That I still don’t know

Brian's Eyes

If you could see the world through Brian's eyes
Each morning there would be a new sunrise
It rises for the foolish
It shines for the wise
Those who find a place for God
In all that they recognize
Every step a dance
No being so delighted in movement
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to begin again
In merry eyes of blue

He understands the 
    worth                     
Of talismans and charm
To influence events
And forestall harm
And maybe only the bottom
    of the ninth
As reason for alarm
Every moment another chance
To see something that's never
    been seen
An actor in the new creation
Quicksilver and amphetamine
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to create again
In merry eyes of blue

All you have to do is watch
    long enough
One day you're sure to see the wind
Keep your eyes wide open
It's bound to come around again
And it might invite you where it's going
You can tell it where you've been
Feed a bobcat some goldfish
Tame it with a glance
Know every moment
As another last chance
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to create again
In merry eyes of blue

So come tripping down the stairs
Combing back your golden hair
Remarking how the nighttime flies
Yes, it's morning already again
Will you be married?
Will you be rich?
Whatever will be, will be
Yet you begin until you end
Go always toward where happiness lies
Seek in the familiar reason for surprise
Know that no heavenly body
   in celestial skies
Matches the glory of first light
   in Brian's eyes
Can't you imagine being a boy?
This is the genius of joy


What's the good of sleeping
When there's so much to do?
Wide awake at first light
Every day to start anew
A world to create again
In merry eyes of blue

Ted Williams (The Solitude of Perfection)

The runners you left on base
Are still waiting, the infielders shifted
Boudreau forever cogitating
The fans, fated to watch, impotent
    and rapidly shuttling
Between love and hatred
Not for artists the vainglory of flags
Your vision is keener, fixed on the
    rotation of a sphere spinning
    in space and time
Too brief or grand for measure
Let others call them what they see,
    ball four or strike three
It does not make them so
And none of them understands why
Sometimes one must spit at expectations
So that it may remain as free, enchained though it be by its own quest
Which demands of it greater stillness
The freed mind cannot
But restlessly wander from such quotidian tasks
As the pursuit of fly balls
The spurious necessity of which is proclaimed most loudly
By those whose inability to do as you
Creates a need therefore seldom worth the required attention
Diligence has its place and no doubt substantial rewards therein
History can be redeemed only in a present that is weightless, an eternal instant
Shattered to perfection with one act, that swing
Of perception, and only then
And then is gone again to begin again all over
Tomorrow there will be another game, and tomorrow
The runners you left on base are stll waiting
Resentful of their need and your pride, understanding neither
While you seek to make yourself free of them
In selfish performance, providing what they most want
Chasing them around again home, that best-wanted and least-known place
You wish to outdo nature, others only to serve it

Faith

A rainbow over the graveyard

Or is that hope?

Deathsong

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You surrounded my poor father

And you hounded him down

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You captured my baby brother

And you laid him in the ground

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You haunted my own mother

Left her home a desolate place

O death, O death

I will remember thee

    

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You tempted the little chidren

When you found no one around

O death, O death

I will remember thee 

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

I stared right in your eyes

Spoke to you by your true name

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You took our common garden

And you laid it all to waste

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You laid hands on my beautiful sister

Made her make a crying sound

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You ambushed my lovers

When we were glorybound

O death, O death

I will remember thee


Death, O death
I will remember thee
Death, O death
I will remember thee
You overtook my dear friends
Waylaid them right out there on the road
O death, O death
I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

We raised many mansions

You burned everything you found 

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

Let me be

Death, O death

Please let me be

We ask only for a little while

You have eternity

O death, O death

Please let me be 

All the King's Horses, All the Hanged Men

Way down here the high sheriff
Keeps a list of names
And next to every one
Is the reason for their shame
Some were unwed mothers
Some were partners in crime
Some forged transport papers to paradise
Others just stayed high all the time
Some people got more than they need
Some people ain't got enough
Some call it good fortune, some call it greed
Some call the sheriff when things get rough


Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing

The little boy's bike bounced for  a ways  down the highway
After it fell from the back of the truck
Lightning was marching its way across the mountains
Kindling fire in the trees every place that it struck
The smoke joined with the clouds and rose straight to heaven
Like the souls of innocents at the slaughter
He walked in the truth
Like sunlight across the water
By now he would have died six more times already
Been resurrected and forgiven
Hid in plain sight as they rolled away the stone
Praised Jesus and many things that are forbidden

Diplomats testify that history
Is the memory of states
Those poets never lie who
Foretell ruin in a dog starved at his master's gate
There's no crime in being poor the multitude preaches
Outside the wire the women grieve
The uncreated light is the light of the eyes,
        the prophet teaches
A new social gospel for beggars and thieves
He led the children's crusade and consorted with lepers
Forgave his debtors ahead of the jubilee
We watched in hiding as the soldiers cut his body down
Watched in silence amidst the conspiring trees

Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing

We don't owe you anything, the court opines
On a foreign runway rifles are offloaded in wooden crates
The computers lock on target, the missiles 
    scream and whine
The world is made free to determine its fate
Thirty pieces of silver is a paltry sum
For those who live inside the gates
Who still make their fortunes in slaves and rum
Precious metals, derivatives, and interest rates
The empire stretches from coast to coast
And halfway around the world
Secured by capital and the Holy Ghost
And a pirate's flag unfurled
Now the people all have worried faces
Troubled heart and smallpox dreams
The rulers worry about lipstick traces
Blood pressure coughs and bomb-proof limousines

Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing

He came back from the jungle with a Purple Heart
China White in his duffel bag and voices in his head
Everything he needed to make a new start
Except that he was already dead
He killed an old lady one night as she prayed
In her hooch down in the Central Valley
Tagged her body with tfillin for the medics to find
Called in a dust-off and dragged her out to the alley
Charlie was invisible in the night and the fog
The grey wolf is something you can see
Kill the body and the head must die
Set the spirits free


Maybe it is best you don't know what I'm thinking
Cause if you did then you'd be me

Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing


I saw a half-dozen hundred sufferers 
   in the circle
They were invisible to the righteous
Women and children following 
   the men away
To the farm, down the river, upstate,
   out of sight

Just right then they looked pretty well beaten down
But the peasants give them bread, wine, and shelter 
    along the way
Until one among you burns to proclaim this tale
As a lie in my ears is every word you may pray
When the jails are full the father weeps
For children and mothers left all alone
The alchemists' dream realized at millenium's end
Gold and high office conjured from corpuscles and bones
You cleared away the forests, strip-mined your own land
In search of the philosopher's stone
How can you be certain you have hours enough 
   to bury your dead
Or days sufficient in which to atone?


Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing

                        

Perfect Stranger

Are they still lies 
If no one believes them?
Are they still gifts 
If no one receives them?
Are they beautiful words
If no one reads them?
Did I kiss your mouth
Or had you stopped breathing? 
Did I bind your wounds
Or were you not bleeding?
Were you already gone
Or was I just leaving?
Wasn't it really mine
Or was I still thieving?

                                                                                                                                         
                                                        I walk among them as a friend

                                                                                    And I leave as a perfect stranger                                                                                   How come I walk among them as a friend

                                                                           And I always leave as a perfect stranger?                                                                           Always a perfect stranger

                                                        I come among you as a friend

                                                         Yet I leave a perfect stranger

                                                           Always a perfect stranger   

Do I speak my mind
Or do I keep it hid?
Did I treat you kind?
I thought I did
Oh yes, I meant
To return your call
Until I fell sound asleep
Must have been all those 
        pills and alcohol
So tell the truth
Was it sad to see me fall?
You want some proof?
I can barely crawl



I come among them as a friend
And I leave as a perfect stranger
How come I walk among them as a friend
And I always leave as a perfect stranger
Always a perfect stranger
How can it be I come among you as a friend
Yet I leave a perfect stranger
Always a perfect stranger

So go on ahead
I'll meet you there
In the secret room
At the top of the stairs
With the radio
And the broken chairs
We'll draw on the walls
And sigh and stare
We'll spend some time
We'll breathe some air
We'll make paper crosses
No one can bear
And we won't break
And we won't tear
And I'll get better
Someday I'll swear
I'll learn to hope
If you'll learn to care
So you go on ahead
I'll meet you there

                                                                                     I come among you as a friend                                                                                            And I leave as a perfect stranger
                                                                              How come I walk them as a friend
                                                                   And I always leave as a perfect stranger?
                                                                                          Always a perfect stranger
                                                                 How can it be I come among you as a friend
                                                                                      Yet I leave a perfect stranger?
                                                                                           Always a perfect stranger
                                                                                        Always the perfect stranger 

E.C.T. (Riding Horses in the Snow)

Well, Dad may not be always be quite 
         right, but he ain't wrong
He's just been up thinking too hard 
        for way too long
All through the night and into 
        the dawn
And still the leaves fall and 
    they cover the lawn
One thing in life I've surely learned
Some bridges there are that just
      won't burn
A shooting star is no bigger than 
      a grain of sand
The universe fits in the palm
      of your hand


There's comet dust in everyone's hair
Mom won't ever tell why Dad's not here
The boat draws near the far shore
The spectre in the mirror is there no more
                                                                                       


Tell me, my son, which way does the Nile flow?
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

Look, did you see, that was him
That ghost in the bleachers at the end of the gym
Dad, Dad, I missed you, I'm so glad you came
Which one are you, son, I can't remember 
      your names
Boys, are you home, how were your games?
Mom, Dad was there but he wasn't the same
His eyes were vacant, he had rain in his hair
He couldn't have been, coldly, she said
      your father wasn't there
I knew different though
I'd traced every hollow in his face
Love was like a comfortable silence
      between us
A voice in the wilderness, saving grace


Tell me, my son, which way does the Nile flow?
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

A man reads newspapers
A man reads books
A man sometimes drinks too much
And don't much care how he looks
A man gives without asking
A man cares for the poor
A man always has room at his table
Even when the wolf howls at his door
A man ain't redeemed
A man ain't saved
A man weeps like Jesus
At his own child's grave


Tell me my son, which way does the Nile flow>
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

So how many times were you crucified?
How many denied?
I'll remember for you
I was the one who cried
For you, when you fell down in the rain
When the wires fell off the roof
And the night burst into flames
And then the cops came
Hey, Dad, you should see what they're trying this time
The fog hangs low around the trees 
        and the melting snow
The houses on the hillside look lonesome,
      but there's still plenty of money around
And off to war once more we go

Tell me my son, which way does the Nile flow?
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

And didn't you see it all already?
Out there leaning on the fence, 
    attended by crows
With the leaves burning in a 
    rusty barrel
The ashes swirling every which 
    way the wind blows
Some of us got sick
Some of us died
Some of us did better than others
All the time we tried
Always we loved one another
Mostly we laughed, though 
    sometimes we cried
 
And as long as the story is good enough
We never say anyone lied


Tell me, my son, which way does the Nile flow
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again. and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

Well, Dad's not in a bar
And he's not in the yard 
    hanged from a tree
And he didn't wreck the car
He's just somewhere else 
    he needs to be
And he's not in the 
    red-brick dungeon
Hooked up to the 
    lightning machines
And he's not in a hospital 
    bed neither
His life counted out on 
    instrument screens
The question's asked 
    without speaking
Or maybe I just thought you'd want to know
My dad is out riding horses in the snow
Dad is riding horses 
     In the snow. . . . in the snow

Indian Blanket

The light you behold upon awakening 
            the eyes
Is not as brilliant as the light 
            from within
The explanation means you must 
         confront the lies
You were not born in original sin
Life is so sweet it tempts the angels
             from heaven
So mean you'll probably have 
            to come back
So rich there's nothing else worth 
             holding onto
So old you'll pray to be released


Take back your Indian blanket
I don't think we ever wanted it anyway
The people ain't ever been the same ever since you brought it here
Ain't nothing more about it I can say

That spark which lit the eyes
Sheds lightly the body's disguise
A clock stops, the heart fails
Man at his gods foolishly rails
Fear not the graveyard nor the cold stone
For those that do perish alone
Closer you are than ever you've been
Just as it was, it will be again
Stars flame in the wintriest skies
It is there you will turn, if you are wise


Take back your Indian blanket
I don't think we ever wanted it anyway
The people ain't ever been the same,
      ever since you brought it here
Ain't nothin' more about it I can say

The promised land is a 
        charnel house              
The forest is filled with bones
Where did all the people go?
Who carved all these stones?
Let us sit on the ground and tell
    tales of the death of kings
Lamentations for princes
What died in the mud and was 
     buried in the snow
A people's dream died there,
     it was a beautiful dream

Take back your Indian blanket
I don't think we ever wanted it anyway
The people ain't never been the same,
      ever since you brought it here
Ain't nothing more about it I can say

Mattie Ready

    One picture I would draw if I could
    You deeply sleeping
    With your hands folded on the 
            pillow beside you
    The warm room lit only by 
            the light inside you
    And the flicker of a candle 
            lightly leaping
    A lover lying next with his 
            arm around you
    With you within all that 
            surrounds you
    Your secrets safely keeping
    Your secrets safely keeping

    O, Mattie Ready, you wanted a song
    But I can’t say much
    I didn’t stay that long
    Before we even started
    I was already wrong
    I would make things all right
    Only I’m way too gone
    Ah, but, hey, Mattie Ready,
         I wrote you a song


    Well, can’t you slow down some
    You’re getting those tombstone eyes
    Man, you better slow down some
    You’re getting those tombstone eyes
    And when it happens soon
    Do you know anyone who’ll really be surprised
    Not me nor you, not I and I
    Can keep track of all these lies
    You know if you ever get tired
    You can always come back to bed
    And I swear once more I won’t ask you anything there
    About anything that’s been done or said

    O, Mattie Ready, you wanted a song
    But I can’t say much
    I didn’t stay that long
    Before we even started
    I was already wrong
    I would make things all right
    Only I’m way too gone
    Ah, but, hey, Mattie Ready, I wrote you a song


   
    Well, I got your keys
    But I guess I’m the one out of luck
    Cause I think I just saw you
    Climb into someone else’s truck
    Well, I suppose you shouldn’t try it,  sir
    Sir, I guess you shouldn’t try it
    Why do you stand so forlorn when all the others are gone
    In the dark out here out of doors?
    Well, I guess I could go back inside, I guess
    But then I wouldn’t be a horse any more
    Everyone asks me why
    Everyone asks me why
    Because in your eyes I see
    The wind at play and the oceans rise

    O, Mattie Ready, you wanted a song
    But I can’t say much
    I didn’t stay that long
    Before we even started
    I was already wrong
    I would make things all right
    Only I’m way too gone
    Ah, but, hey, Mattie Ready, I wrote you a song


   
    Well, in a while, how do you think
    That you’ll paint this story?
    With candlelight and incense and spells and poems and sighs
    And all that kind of glory
    Maybe something lower, vodka and felonies and pills and wrecks
    A little more kind of whorey
    A lot more glittery, less circumspect
    Even downright tawdry
    With me left alone among the dust
    That will become of all of us
    Blood on the pages of my books
    Luck and death walk hand in hand
    No one ever left me so shook
    There are only two rhythms, I tried to tell you
    The beating heart and a rolling train
    Only two gifts I had to give you
    A red, red rose and a bed inside the falling rain
    Now again I’m just another person
    I can never be
    You and me and baby would make three
    All I ever wanted, she said once that very first last night
    Is for you to marry me
    Come on, he said, as he bent down to pick her up off the floor
    Let me carry thee
    Let me carry thee

   

    O, Mattie Ready, you wanted a song
    But I can’t say much
    I didn’t stay that long
    Before we even started
    I was already wrong
    I would make things all right
    Only I’m way too gone
    Ah,  but, hey, Mattie Ready, I wrote you a song

El Duque

After hiding for eight days with seven of your friends
(In those first days we numbered no more than the apostles)
From the secret police and informers' eyes
(Having known their jails, this time we were prepared to die)
In the fisherman's hut on the beach
(We were down to three, one without shoes; another, unforgivably, had lost his weapon)
Sleeping at night in the netting, while the less talented others kept the watch
(We crept into the cane fields and hid there, sucking sugar from the same stalks that
             cut our flesh, the symbol of our bondage)
Mercifully unaware of the broadcast reports of your shipwreck and death
(All the while the American planes screamed overhead)
That so saddened your father, your wife and your children, the hallucinatory men
             you bathed on the ward
(To follow me, you must be prepared to leave your family and sell all that you own;
             my father's fields were the first to burn)
To whom even before, like all the living, you were little more than a ghost
(How many dreamers before had promised them liberation?)
A fable as unhelpful as their thoughts, as little connected
(He dressed my wounds and talked all the time, like a madman, as if our enemies had already
             been defeated, as we trembled in the cane)
To that other reality they had fled, which asked them to believe
(All was not lost, we would regroup in the mountains)
The greatest curveballer in the island's history was one and the same
(Swimming among the people as the fish in the sea)
With the sometimes sullen yet courtly attendant who sponged them down
(Creating ourselves the necessary conditions whereby history could inexorably proceed)
And put them in their beds and locked them away at night, while denying
(Triumphing of our willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice, of selfless love)
They were the re-risen Christ, thereby somehow serving the regime's immaterial needs
               and samely the ongoing glory of the revolution
(The new society will give birth to the new man)
Leaving at last by night with the changing wind, crammed gunwale to gunwale
(When we left Mexico, we were originally seventy-three,  in a ship made for twelve,
               plus guns and ammunition)
In a little patchwork boat around a single flaccid sail
(With each little swell we threatened to founder)
Provisioned solely with sugar water, the starving country's insular bounty
(If he erred, it was only in underestimating how long it would take to undo what history
                had made, and how fatefully you would oppose us)
Swamping almost always, driven across the sharky strait, not much closer
(Lacking an experienced pilot, we made an erratic course)
To the hallowed continent of refuge but onto another sandy cay, another sugarcoated paradise
(We did no so much land as wreck, said the Argentinian)
Deserted since those fargone ships took the natives away, forever
(And now some of their descendants prepare to offer themselves for the homeland)
Where you ran aground, as lost as its discoverers, perhaps more disappointed,
                still in search of gold
(Betrayed, we waded ashore under gunfire)
Like them, grateful for the sand beneath your feet
(Finding sanctuary in the cane fields)
Huddled together for warmth, without fire, for three nights beneath the soil
(He rigged his rifle so that even if surprised in sleep, he could jerk the trigger and avoid capture)
Until the American helicopters picked them up and carried them to the land of the free agents
(It was the certainty in his voice that held us there, beneath the cane stalks and the withering fire,
                  and all the while the American planes screamed overhead)
Would you be afraid to throw strikes in the too intensely interested stadium
(Later on, in the mountains, we even listened to the World Series on the radio)
Whose approbation is expressed in a mainly foreign tongue
(And he could not understand why Haney would not use Carlton Willey more than once)
And would that be a personal or a political act?
En la patria, si, es verdad, estamos muy pobre
Pero con el dinero, no es la patria
You hector us about freedom and deny us medicine
The Yankees win again, and my children remain