Fourth Day Of July

And it came to pass on the first day of July The last man home from Vietnam was going to arrive The ship came in so silently, its bow a ghostly white And when they looked upon the decks, there was not a man inside Then the sea began to roll and from the ship a moaning A line of broken children, all from the ship a-coming The light of death was in their eyes The broken children of Vietnam On the first day of July Like a war beyond control, to Washington at dawn A line of ghostly children upon the White House lawn Grown men did turn away, not to see it anymore To see the burning child running to the White House door No one found a place to hide The burning children of Vietnam On the second of July All across America a line ten miles long The dead children all coming home From the land of Vietnam To men who got too far away From what was done in their name Someday must all have to pay Who never saw a child die The dead children are coming home Four days in July On every door and window across this sad gray land A mark that would never go away of a thousand thousand hands A voice like voices in a dream A voice like somebody else's scream Or not somebody else's scream A voice within a fire The burning children of Vietnam On the third day of July Then they came upon the sea, it did open up before them A line of children all with wounds, upon the ocean walking Then the sky began to rain And beat the land with tears of rage And every year upon that day if a hundred years go by It rains upon America On the fourth day of July