even the buffalo cried

i don't think i've ever told you
didn't know which words should come first
it was a hot and dusty day
and i had a terrible thirst
the Band was playing in the very next room
while i was talking out the back door
but you never heard my true story
about struggling near Saigon during the Vietnam War:

and tell me, please, what it was all for.
there were fewer men then we needed
the man with a tunnel light said
when i drove thru a field of tombstones
and everyone there was perfectly dead
i couldn't hear their voices but i saw them wave
in my memory i remember each name written on every grave
and the sun was circling and even the buffalo cried
but i wanted to hold you closely by my side
i wanted to touch your hair and softly say your name
sit you on my bed and play a lover's game,
but after what i saw maybe nothing would ever be the same.
i saw American jet planes surprisingly low and fast
dropping from their bomb racks jellied gasoline which blew apart

a rice paddy village burned
little children screaming to run away while tearing at my heart
what life lessons were learned?
they could make you feel guilty or hard inside
if you stopped your fast-forward selfish stride
and the sun was circling and even the buffalo cried
but i wanted to hold you closely by my side
i wanted to touch your hair and softly say your name
sit you on my bed and play a lover's game,
but after what i saw maybe nothing would ever be the same.
i don't think i've ever told you
didn't know which words should come first
it was a hot and dusty day
and i had a terrible thirst
the Band was playing in the very next room
while i was talking out the back door
but you never heard my true story
about struggling near Saigon during the Vietnam War:

and tell me, please, what it was all for.