My daddy taught me

When I was very young

When I was very young

How to hold a gun

How to hold a gun

And never let it go

Must have been something

My daddy thought that I should know

Never did get drafted

But still I went to war

Still I went to war

Every day for sure

Every day for sure

Is like a battlefield

Never let them take you down

Never should you yield

I only bring this up

Cause I feel it's getting late

Feel it's getting late

For America's sake

For America's sake

We might need to up and run

Unless it is my son

You hold onto your gun

There's no need for you to worry
No need for you to fret
I've been to see the doctor
And he says I'm not a threat

He says that I'm not dangerous
And I will be okay
And that the voices in my head
Will one day go away

If unhinged were bottle rockets
I might light up the night sky
I could snap at any moment
But I promise not to bite

Don't be nervous I'm not contagious
Though I'm not a betting man
My mind's just on hiatus
Out building castles in the sand

So you see there's no need to worry
Or call the authorities
But if non compos mentis came in Slurpees
I'm pretty sure my brain would freeze

Perhaps I see things differently
Than the normal side of town
Doesn't mean I'm pushing crazy
I'm just tugging on its hand

With the day after Christmas
We return to the normality
Of me not looking at you
And you not talking to me

With hands deep in our pockets
Holding tight the spare change
Where we don't lose what little we've got
Or give too much away

Where all that is seen
Is the blind destiny
As I climb over you
On the rung of what's in it for me

With the day after Christmas
We're back to where we were
Not trying to be
Such good boys and girls

Where a grudge I unwrap
And think bad about you
Wait a minute that
Was the day before too

Where we take peace on Earth
And good will towards men
And pack it away
For another year

Where the Government
Sends us back to the war
With no earthly idea
Of what we're fighting for

Where we don't listen
To the cries of the children
As all of this happens
The day after Christmas

The cloth I gave it as cover for chill
is lying still.

Christmas eve was its last night.

Not that I knew
when picked it up
and gave it back
to the cold night.

I'm still holding it
heavy and invisible
on my heart
as my eyes repeat the scene
of crows pecking out its eyes
the head rolling on the earth
eyes closed.

I close my eyes
scared life could be so thin a thread
barely holding
and incredibly uncertain.