nestled between these big bushy trees
by the riverbanks seems like as good a place
as any to rest for the moment
catch my breath collect my thoughts
and think about what to do do next

look at that mighty river out there
water just flowing and then crashing against itself
and the wind is picking up
and it's getting dark
hmmm...what lies ahead

look...there's a riverboat
cool how those big red wheels
just draw the water right up into them
and let it back down again
ever so gently...a bit peaceful i think

and look at all the people on board
all dressed up and pretty sipping cocktails
probably talking about frivolous things
totallly oblivious to the fact that they
are skirting around the outer edges of hell

oh i'm sure they know that they are
they're just happy that they're aren't the ones
to have to fight in it...to have to see
all those things that i have seen
all the blood, all the death, the sacrifice

and for what? i'm really not sure
i was just called to duty
as my brothers all were
to wear the beloved gray and defend our land
at any and all costs

and it does cost...i've seen it
in my own back yard
the homes of my neighbors
and my family burned to the ground
so many lives trampled upon

so many good people...innocent people
people like me...the poor ones
protecting the rights of the filthy rich
who would just as soon spit on me
if they saw me in the street

but that last battle...that last place
it was just too much...all my friends...
my comrades, buddies...all slain...
right before me...in any way possible
by those brutal beasts...the monsters

they don't even have the courtesy
to just shoot you and get it over with
they have to draw it out...bash our heads
in...slit our throats...make us see
just how terribly terribly wrong we are

yes i saw all this...i was left standing
so i ran...and i ran
and i ran until my sides ached so much
for now i'm an enemy of both sides
a deserter...a coward...traitor?

surely if the south catches me i'll swing
and the north...well..the north
they would so enjoy watching the blood pour
from yet another worthless rebel
the bane of their ultimately superior existence

i ran for many many days
and i ended up here on the banks
of the mighty big river
watching the rich cavort on that boat and hiding
behind the safety of these trees and bushes

where should i go now? what will i do?
i can never go back...that is clear
and there's nothing to go back to anyway
everyone...everyone that i've known to be real
and decent are all strewn out across the countryside

all bloodied or burned or both
i have no reality now and no home as well
nothing to go home too
just this wide river before me
and the hope that something is on the other side

johnny can never come marching home again
and, as for me...maybe i'll flee to mexico
try to start a new life someway somehow
but never will i put this behind me this place
my beloved country that turned on itself and died

america.