One Two

In your dream you are careful
You aim your rifle
You feel your fingers on the catch
Then one, two, a shock and a flash
And you shoot
Clean through the toe of your boot

And if there is pain or shame it doesn't matter
It's not your war anymore, you are home free
Lay back in the dirt and wait for airlift to Okinawa
Then wake confused, next to me

You say, yeah, you ask yourself, "what am I willing to give up?"
And it might just be a game, but no, we were
equipped for every joyous destructive perversity
I mean, the inventory of firepower we carried on our backs
If you thought about it you'd crack
Even still I wake from dreams
in that sweat of overpowering urgency
"What am I willing to give up?"
and you know, I'd give it all
to have what I still have

What about the stars and the moonless night,
undercover, listen...
One, two
Counting on your feet to carry you

You say, yeah, I lost some time out in the Arizona desert
In an old adobe overrun with mice and empty sardine tins
I stayed there awhile just shooting at snakes,
stubbing cigarettes into the dirt
Until the heat drove me out that's how I knew that I could feel again

What about the stars and the moonless night,
undercover, listen...
One, two
Counting on your feet to carry you

You say, yeah, it looks good doesn't it
I pay the bills, I check the oil, I phone my mother
before she can even wonder
Why I haven't phoned my mother
I stay inside the things I understand
Makes me look like a happy man, doesn't it
Well, maybe I am
Maybe we've all been had in one way or another

What about the stars and the moonless night,
undercover, listen...
One, two
Counting on your feet to carry you

©2000 Annie Gallup