Hard it feels against my back and gleaming of a crimson red
Conjures images of elephants, roll tide the crowd all said
American as apple pie, as pageantry, 4th of July
My father’s dreams as a large green woman traversed his eye
My sweetheart blushes in my mind, hand held tight
But still, that thick American Red fills the long goodnight
I can hear the band playing, reveille, and taps
One second we are meant to stand, the other to lay back
Many of us snuggled up, no greater dream than love
Some of us build community, praise be to Him above
Some of us moved forward while many of us fled
A universal truth as we’re washed up in American Red
The screams of love are echoing, the shouts of fear are deafening
We trumpet joy, sing of gain and loss, each cry is now strengthening
But none shall hold dominion over the whisper of the wind
Ill intent swept around as the voice is that of Death
And so the story at its end
Foreign soil hard against my back
You will forget everything about me, my sacrifice unsaid
A uniformed American boy, bleeding his American Red