What is a person supposed to do ?
Hold up a sign that says "Will work for food"?
Tommy might've been a lost young man, 
 but i Never thought I'd see him holding out his hands

Back when we used to hunt for spots to skate
We had more guts than all the rest of "crazy eights "
Then a man came to the school one day
Tommy wasn't a fool, but he didn't make "A"s

And when the man started to talk and say
Things about "sign on bonuses" and good pay
Tommy thought about his mama, and then about his grades
The little brother his daddy left, and how Tommy might escape

So he signed his name
on the dotted line,
and left after graduation day


The family held pictures and spoke words of such praise  
  For the "sacrifices" and "honor" that their boy Tommy made
But when I turn the corner, first snow that Winter day,
And saw my old friend there hudled down on marketplace,

I didn't quite recognize him right away
Then I saw the marks of a veteran written on his face
A man who was once the boy when we'd run and play
Now held his hands out as strangers looked away

( still, the most
courageous friend of mine
to date )


We talked about our mamas, and very little about the rest
He asked if I still skateboard, I said "Getting too old for that"

And we both agreed
On how different things would be
If Tommy.         Hadn't lost  
                                                             His leg