Call this guessing but if we laid our weapons
Down and just gave up
Would those we hurt do in return
And chalk it up as love

Someone has to be humble enough
To admit that they were wrong
It would help in light for both sides
To try and get along

Hard to deny when it's pride
Holding us back and yet
We hesitate to do and say
The way we know is best

We spend our time on opposite sides
Staring our so-called enemies down
As life takes its toll on what we're told
Waiting for it to come back around

In hopes that we don't really need
To be taught a valuable lesson
That the stronger ones are first to lay down their guns
But then again, I might only be guessing

If it were up to me
I’d do things differently
For war there’d be no need
We’d all live in peace

We’d learned to love our neighbors
Do each other favors
All change our behavior
Not a one would be a hater

If it were up to me
There’d be no disease
No catastrophes
The air we breath would be clean

We’d go out of our way
To try and make each other‘s day
Give away more than we take
Love each other for heavens sake

If it were up to me
We would all be free
Fill each other’s needs
If it were all up to me

My daddy loved the Loblolly Pine
Always there to help remind
Him of his innocent childhood days
How in a breeze those tall trees would gently sway

My daddy above everything else
Loved the sweet scent of the Loblolly smell
It was well understood every chance he could
He'd drop what he was doing and head for the woods

My daddy spent the best of times
Living out his life with the Loblolly Pine
That is why we buried him beneath
The high shifting shade of his favorite tree

After all this time I feel that I
Have a need to apologize
For all the abuse I've put through
This worn-out weary body of mine

First and foremost, to say the least
Apologies to my aching feet and knees
For the pounding I give on a daily base
Across miles and miles of cold concrete

I find I owe it to my eyes
That lay inside these sunken sockets
The lack of sleep they get with me
On toss and turn nights, each time I've fought it

And this smile you see with fewer teeth
I also owe an apology
For putting them through nightly grinds
When all they've done is trust in me

These bent arthritic calloused hands
My hope is they both understand
I'm sorry for the abuse I've put them through
And promise to use lotion, even though I'm a man

Before all is done and all is said
To this brain inside my aching head
What little matter there is left
I'm sorry for all the wrong thoughts I've had

I could go to infinity and beyond
Naming the abuse, from day one I've brought on
But ain't nobody got time for that
And hey, anyways...I'm not yet done

I grew up with the classics
As far as monsters go
From Frankenstein to his scary bride
Boris Karloff and crew running the show

Where gypsies spoke of Wolfmen
Giving young kids a scare
In the dead of night living in black and white
Lon Chany Jr. covered in hair

And who could forget The Creature
From the deep dark black lagoon
Where we heard Julie Adams scream all in 3D
In Florida's backyard swimming pools

The horror we had as innocent lads
Were these monsters on T.V.
Dracula wanting to **** our blood
Played by the ever so scary, Bela Lugosi

Back then who knew we had a slew
Of true monsters on the block
It wasn't the shock of the scare we had to beware
But when they left us alone with our own thoughts

Now all they have is the art of the slash
Who do they think they're kidding
Back in the day were true monsters on display
Scaring the bejeebees out of us kids in the 50's

there are those we know
that come and go
in a crowd
or all alone

in the blinding tic
of a mila-sec
or the drawn out drag
of hold on a minute

there are those we know
on a tight rope
above the crowd
doing their best to cope

when the winds of change
come their way
all they know to do
is swing and sway

there are those we know
in time, froze
where they grasp the past
and don't let go

holding onto it
in pieces and bits
hoping the good old days
never quit