I so love to climb this mountain, to take in the view below
America, my homeland, God, I love her so
I see an eagle soar above me, floating gently through the breeze
Ah, yes, the very symbol, that reminds us that she's free

Dear God forbid, we were only kids, how were we to know
What lay in store on foreign shores where we'd been called to go
so we laughed and joked and even smoked to hide our youthful years
But the coming storm would soon transform our laughter into costs

A fear inspired by machine gun fire sent us scrambling left and right
We hit the ground as tracer rounds came screaming through the night
The smell of death and burning flesh goes better left untold
But the dreams I dream, of the things I've seen, still make my blood run cold

And the words keep coming to me, 'till aloud I start to sing
"America, America, God shed Thy grace on thee"
As my heart and soul remember, my tears begin to flow
For the words now have more meaning, than from a childhood long ago

With a vengeful hate I cursed at fate when I saw him lying there
How could she be so callously ungentle and unfair
What once had been a childhood friend I saw through loving eyes
Was now a mess of bloody flesh I couldn't recognize

It's beyond my comprehension how fate and circumstance
Can pick and choose with life and death without a second glance
And take a life with promise, with hopes and dreams and plans
And leave them shattered there beside him, on a field in Vietnam

If it's all the same I'll speak no names though he was the child of one
For I hope you'll see that this could be most any mother's son
He had no wait at heaven's gate he had no sins to tell
At twenty one, this favorite son, had served his time in hell

As I reach the end still singing, I stumble to my knees
"And crown Thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea"
And now the tears flow freely but I struggle to contain
Though I tell myself it's over now, the memory still remains