South Bend Soldiers On - Robbie Fulks

You see the mass the trees turn on colfax avenue

These lonely girls they come out in the fall

With hearts they drag behind them like long black bridal trains

In my age I feel a father to them all

I see more than I need to from my front porch swing

These days pale to old remembered joy

Sometimes when I'm not thinking I fall on my knees and sing

Where is my boy where is my blue eyed boy

This midwest that I love proved little more to him

Than a place you watch grow smaller from a train

If he came back a grown man his eyes would surely swim

To see this place where so much is the same

One god assures our freedom

Two armies keep control

The us for the young ones

Salvation for the weak and old

Keep your burdens from your neighbour

Leave a good name when you're gone

People last but a lifetime

And the south bend soldiers on

Now the widows of last season flirt in the summer shade

Their grieves are torn like bad fruit from the vine

The touches of lost lovers they burn and then they fade

While dreaming never let's go of your mind

Me I look each night at a photo by the bed

And each morning at another sunrise

And if all that we're made off is these ghosts inside our head

Who could blame us for pretending otherwise

One god assures our freedom

Two armies keep control

The us for the young ones

Salvation for the weak and old

Keep your burdens from your neighbour

Leave a good name when you're gone

People last but a lifetime

And the south bend soldiers on