you see the mass the trees turn on colfax avenue these lonely girls they come out in the fall with hearts they drag behind them like long black bridal trains in my age i feel a father to them all i see more than i need to from my front porch swing these days pale to old remembered joy sometimes when i m not thinking i fall on my knees and sing where is my boy where is my blue eyed boy this midwest that i love proved little more to him than a place you watch grow smaller from a train if he came back a grown man his eyes would surely swim to see this place where so much is the same one god assures our freedom two armies keep control the us for the young ones salvation for the weak and old keep your burdens from your neighbour leave a good name when you re gone people last but a lifetime and the south bend soldiers on now the widows of last season flirt in the summer shade their grieves are torn like bad fruit from the vine the touches of lost lovers they burn and then they fade while dreaming never lets go of your mind me i look each night at a photo by the bed and each morning at another sunrise and if all that we re made off is these ghosts inside our head who could blame us for pretending otherwise one god assures our freedom two armies keep control the us for the young ones salvation for the weak and old keep your burdens from your neighbour leave a good name when you re gone people last but a lifetime and the south bend soldiers on