Chuck Perrin

(guess I never really realized when I wrote this in ’72
that it would actually come true . . .)

I dreamed I was in vietnam in 1999
I just wanted to buy some land
and this was all I could find
saw a place called “firebase lake”
I’d heard about on tv
“a home in the sun to retire in peace
in the land of the brave and now free”

they flew me in a private plane
to somewhere near danaang
it seems they had a special offer on a parcel or two
before the price went up in spring
when we got on the ground and I looked around
well  .  .  .  I didn’t know what to say
it was just as good, as far as I could see
as the old u. s. of a.

why I remember when this place was a mess
full of swamps and debris
now they got everything so nice and neat
well it made you kinda proud to see
it looks real good, they got green cement
and life-like flowers and trees
and a plastic chicken in every pot
in the land of the brave and now free

I thought I was in vietnam in 1969
lost my right foot to a shrapnel blast
and my best friend to a mine
if I’d known then what I know now
I don’t know what I’d do
it only would have made my life
that much harder to get thru

I dreamed I was in vietnam in 1999
I just wanted to buy some land
and this was all I could find
finally got a place near “firebase lake”
with a terrace and a view
and now all of my neighbors from the old u. s.
are moving over too
yes, all my neighbors from the old u.s.

oh, god . . .

what can I do?