French Summer Sun

(Album: To The Passage Of Time - 2021)

He heard the quiet buzzing of a fly
For a second he wasn't quite sure what it was
'Til it tickled his face and he opened his eyes
On a beach in the French summer sun
With sulphur in the air and smell of something worse
He leaned up on his elbow and looked around
Wiped some blood from his face and saw his buddy James
Mangled and torn apart on the ground

The medics got to him and he thanked God they did
He spent twenty-seven days in a field hospital
Before the slow trip home to the States
Minus one leg, which still seemed impossible
He got a job sorting mail in the Birmingham post office
Five days a week enough pay to get by
He met a beautiful girl through a mutual friend and
Eleven months later that girl was his wife

Well the nightmares were often and so vivid and real
He'd wake up screaming a few times a week
She was patient and kind and stayed by his side
And in time he found a more restful sleep
And by the next year they had 'em a son
Who got drafted when he turned eighteen
He went off to fight but he came back whole
Met my mom and they had me

And I come from a long line of soldiers
And their blood's still flowing through me
And they fought in fields in foreign lands
So I could be who I wanted to be

Well I broke the streak and I went to college
Instead of Kabul or Kuwait
Got my degree and I got hired to teach
Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Yeats
In a decent sized high-school outside of Atlanta
I did the best that I could
That's heady stuff for kids that age
But all in all I think I did some good

And I come from a long line of soldiers
Whose blood's still flowing through me
And they fought in fields in foreign lands
So I could be who I wanted to be

He heard the quiet buzzing of a fly
For a second he wasn't quite sure what it was
'Til it tickled his face and he opened his eyes
Then he died there in that French summer sun
And that girl he wouldda met sorting mail back in Birmingham
She met a lawyer and they fell in love
So their story ends before it began
On that beach in the French summer sun

And that child she had, well that wasn't my dad
And I wasn't ever his son
So my story ends before it began
On that beach in the French summer sun

And I come from a long line of soldiers
Whose blood flowed into the sky
And war took more than just one life
It took him and his son and me