The Wall

Cigarettes and a bottle of beer
This poem that I wrote for you
This black stone and these hard tears
Are all I got left now of you
I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing
Laughing at your ship-out party
I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry

Your high boots and striped t-shirt
Ah Billy, you looked so bad
Yeah, you and your rock-n-roll band
You were best thing this shit town ever had
Now the men who put you here
Eat with their families in rich dining halls
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all
At the wall

Well, I'm sorry I missed you last year
Couldn't find no one to drive me
If your eyes could cut through that black stone
Tell me, would they recognize me?
For the living time it must be served
The day goes on
Cigarettes and a bottle of beer
Skin on black stone

On the ground, dog tags and wreaths of flowers
With ribbons red as the blood
Red as the blood you spilled in the Central Highlands mud
Limousines rush down Pennsylvania Avenue
Rustling the leaves as they fall
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all
Here at the wall