My Pledge

(album: Peace Trail - 2016)

If it please the court I've had a lot to say
And it's not always been true
Standing here before you, judge
I make my pledge of truth to you

The waves came over the bowsprit
The decks awash with running green and foam
Back there at the wheel I was terrified
Next day we first saw home

My relatives came over on the Mayflower
Landed on the shore almost alone
No that damn traffic today is terrible
And everywhere I look I see people alone

Alone with their heads looking in their hands
Lost in the conversation stare
Walking with their eyes looking at the screen
Talking like they were really there

I'm lost in this new generation
Left me behind it seems
Listening to the shadow of Jimi Hendrix
"Purple Haze", sounding like TV

I stepped on someone's hand laying on the street
Both asleep and dead it may seem
He didn't even move there on the sidewalk
I stood there staring in a dream

She came along in her uniform
Stood moving me away with a gentle hand
Dressed in white like a nightingale
Her name was Florence, Florence of the Land
(I knew I'd seen her somewhere)

I knew I'd seen her somewhere
But she was busy with him gone
She came with three different brothers
Abraham, Martin and John

I heard a song about that once
And I never knew what it meant
Three stars died in a plane one night
Rock and Roll, the message that was sent

I couldn't wrap my head around it
Didn't know what it meant
Standing there on that sandy beach
Watching it turn to cement

Now I don't see all the colors
And I might miss some of their beauty
But I do see what I see
And I want to do my duty

Enlisted in the Navy at the corner store
They had a recruiting booth
I covered my heart and raised my hand
And swore it was the truth

That's my pledge
That's my pledge
That's my pledge, judge
That's my pledge