The Homefront

Times are always a little bit better 

than they were the day I got that letter

saying they were shipping me to fight among the feared 

I'll never feel quite so unsure

as I did after the war when memories raged like open sores

and backfiring cars could break me all to tears 

They said, "drink a little more 

and you'll eventually cure all of your aching 

cry a little less, 

the Purple Heart upon your chest ain't one for breaking"

but they're mistaken 

Cus I'm broken to a piece of what I've been 

I still awake when the thunder strikes 

from dreams of watching as you lost your life

once someone said, "so what, a nigger died"

and I beat him without blinking 

There's things I'll never understand 

like why we judge by the skin of man

damn the nazis and the ku klux klan

for their damned way of thinking 

They said, "drink a little more 

and you'll eventually cure all of your aching 

cry a little less, 

the Purple Heart upon your chest ain't one for breaking"

but they're mistaken 

Cus I'm broken to a piece of what I've been

I'm home, why is it worse on the homefront

than the war that once destroyed our sons? 

Now I walk the streets at night
among the homeless, the filth and crime
and get robbed just for being alive
by someone I was shot for
Some kids defaced our monument
with yellow paint and foul comments
I shake my head at their ignorance
and almost wish that I'd died in the war