"I helped you out" she said
"I was a protester during the war
I also protested for various rights
there was so much to protest for."
…and the Vietnam Vet just stared
at her self-satisfied self
She looked so proud and smug
arrogant, to be sure
never questioned about her deeds
she had a scornful air
…and once again he smelled
the air of a dying friend
"I helped you out," she said
and marched on Washington, DC"
"It was all just utterly brilliant!
We were so full of life, you see."
…and once more he flashed back
to his best friend's final breath
She smiled down her nose at him
thinking "It feels good to be correct."
no other thought ever occurs to her
But he thought back to Tet
when his weary friend took papers
from the body of the dead NVA
"Hang on comrades" the interpreter read
"The American peace movement grows.
They can't hang on much longer
glorious victory will be ours."
…and the bewildered, weary grunts
just stood and stared at the ground
"We were there in Chicago" she boasted
"when the Democrat's party convened.
1968 it was, a truly awesome scene."
It was about that time that Wilson
his second string center in high school
stepped on a mine near Tam Ky
"My boy friend burned his draft card
and later we burned the flag
and then we burned tokes all around
I guess I'm starting to brag!
While they argued the shape of the table
…in Paris there was time to burn
"We turned out at the airports
I really shouldn't expound
but we wanted the vets returning
to realize they were wrong."
That night a 20 year old basket-case
said "Thanks America" and cocked his gun
"We shouldn't have even been there
it was a civil war, comprehend?
and us supporting a government
neither of nor for the common man"
While at a refuge camp, a family is dragged
to a plane taking them back to Vietnam.
"We were totally proven right
history has shown that's true
everything you see and read
will back me through-and-through"
It helped that point when the protesters
became the teachers of our youth
"We may have made a mistake
with Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge
but the Cambodians are finally free
and their country's on the move."
…and again, some say the estimates were high
and only one third of all Cambodians died
"Well, I really must be going
I merely want you to know
we were only doing it for our boys
we just wanted to bring you home."
…and he could only stare and think
"Thanks, I could've done without you."
