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