The Big Parade


I've just come back from the war
I'm angry and tired and bored
Scarred by the things that I saw --
Still don't feel like I'm home
Don't want to go back, don't want to stay
I'm still waiting for the big parade
Just before dawn --
doesn't feel like last fall
feels like a friend I've lost touch with
who I'd hoped wouldn't call --
blankets and clothes and pictures of wives,
the glow of the burning
they saw from the sky
When I woke up, all swaddled in white
I wanted my Mother
wanted her to tell me why I was alive
I'd write every night just before bed
For a while there I stopped
Did you think I was dead?
The truth of it is, I was afraid
Scared to come back, I wanted to stay
I'm still waiting for the big parade







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