Fifty-one Caliber Freedom Bird
Memorial Day arouses stark memories
of grim realities,
pushin’ up daisies for all these years,
I still remember,
I still remember.
The way through the corridor of horror
was a low altitude chopper ride,
straight ahead
with wide-eyed stare through M-60-fire
into elephant grass,
Is today a good day to die
on a hot LZ,
for living in this war
is such sleepless straining torture,
Over and over
in continuous psychic loop,
over and over
in big-screen fashion,
Is it a good day to die,
report for your execution,
be a good soldier,
now, and do your duty,
Ah,
the sublime release
of the .51 caliber freedom bird,
taking me away
from all this confusion,
If only I had to die once,
and not over and over
again.
— Gordon Neumann