'Is There A Word For It?'

I've read it in the papers,
They taught me it in schools,
They're not like us, they lie and cheat,
Commies break all the rules.

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
Gimme a break
I've seen this movie, too
MacArthur beats the Russians
And makes it safe for me and you.

The soup lines end, the tanks withdraw,
They pave the streets with gold,
We get new shoes, Camelot is born
Again like in the days of old.

But Merlin's magic doesn't work
And Oswald cuts King Arthur down.
My shoes are stained with broken dreams
What's so good about being the clown?

It's gone.
It won't be back.
Too many side steps
On the wrong track.
My light's in the window, I keep it lit.
But my insides ache with emptiness
Is there a word for it?

They're dying in streets of Warsaw
I see it in their eyes.
Those streets aren't gold but nor are ours
Is that some big surprise?

Jesus Christ, I lie awake at nights
And wonder what this means--
Are there little commies over there
Doing Russian Daddy, Daddy, Daddy scenes?

I see the dying Lebanese
I see the Afghan hills destroyed.
For God's sake, I hate dead birds
But since when do I have to hate
to be employed?

Don't tell me that's no welfare line
for people needing money.
They're not driving new Cadillacs
and feasting on milk and honey.

I see them sleeping on the streets
Man, I don't walk in some places that they lie.
Dead Russians may be your life's ambition
But what's that put between their births and when they die?

Here I am then, in a nutshell,
Gonna drive those reds to drink.
Print me up on signs for our streets of gold
To make our people think.

And me? I'll just get older
And I'll wait till it's my turn
To tell my kids 'bout these good old days
When my grey hair makes me yearn.

It's gone.
It won't be back.
Too many side steps
On the wrong track.
My light's in the window, I keep it lit.
But my insides ache with emptiness
Is there a word for it?

--by GORDON C. WONG,
from "What Lies Beyond This Door",*
copyright 1982 by GORDON C. WONG

*-hopefully to be published in the new millennium.