Memorial Day
“WELL,” they were saying, “the war’s over.”
All the parades were coming back,
And when they stopped
The uniforms went off and hung themselves in closets.
“Here’s Johnny again,” they were saying. “Hello, Nathaniel,
Heard you was hit at Shilo. Welcome back.”
All the parades were coming back,
And when they stopped
The uniforms went off and hung themselves in closets.
“Here’s Johnny again,” they were saying. “Hello, Nathaniel,
Heard you was hit at Shilo. Welcome back.”
Then they began saying:
“Lincoln’s been shot.”
They kept saying it all night over the wires
And by the time it came out the other end
It was already saying “Lincoln is dead.”
And everyman’s skull was a sky
And had a buzzard in it that wheeled and cried:
“I eat magnificence.
“Lincoln’s been shot.”
They kept saying it all night over the wires
And by the time it came out the other end
It was already saying “Lincoln is dead.”
And everyman’s skull was a sky
And had a buzzard in it that wheeled and cried:
“I eat magnificence.
Now it’s all pictures and parades and textbooks.
Johnny’s fading out of the family album,
Nat’s wound is gone from Shilo,
And anyone can believe Lincoln is dead.
Johnny’s fading out of the family album,
Nat’s wound is gone from Shilo,
And anyone can believe Lincoln is dead.
You don’t even have to remember Nathaniel in ‘24
When the G.A.R. was already riding in touring cars
To keep up with the Spanish War Vets
Who were already too slow for the Legionnaires.
Maybe I was the only one young enough to see
Nathaniel change to a buzzard in the back seat
And stretch and fly. I had a big sky then
But he filled it all
Full of a dream I had
A long time running, because
When the G.A.R. was already riding in touring cars
To keep up with the Spanish War Vets
Who were already too slow for the Legionnaires.
Maybe I was the only one young enough to see
Nathaniel change to a buzzard in the back seat
And stretch and fly. I had a big sky then
But he filled it all
Full of a dream I had
A long time running, because
There are pictures and parades for all the rest,
But you have to dream the buzzard.
But you have to dream the buzzard.