A Gentle Boy

Johnny was raised on a little farm
He never meant to cause anyone harm
Then his government sent him to a foreign country
And told him to kill to protect you and me

Johnny was just a gentle boy
He loved Mom and Dad, he was happy with a toy
He did his lessons and did his chores
He liked to go to town and look around in stores

Johnny was a sort of serious kid
He took pride in everything that he did
He didn't do too bad in his school
He learned fast and was far from a fool

Johnny had good friends, but he was happy alone
He never thought he'd ever have to leave home
But he was drafted and sent to Vietnam
To carry a gun for his Uncle Sam

The war was something he didn't understand
And he never got over his killing a man
In a jungle ambush he was shot in the hip
And soon he was returned home on a ship

When his ship docked, back in the USA
He was greeted by curses, he knew not what to say
The protesters threw garbage and called him names
They made him feel bad and a little more than ashamed

Johnny knew he had fought in an unpopular war
He now walked with a limp and his mind was scarred
Johnny came home but in a way never left
He couldn't fit in and couldn't live with himself

His life for years was tortured and hard
His mind kept returning to the Vietnam war
He couldn't quit thinking about when he carried a gun
He was back home but still in Saigon

He soon made it back to the family farm
His mother kissed him and cried on his arm
She could hardly talk until she had cried
Then she told Johnny that his father had died

Johnny and Mom could hardly make it now
They sold most of the land and most of the cows
He got a job in a factory to help make ends meet
He didn't like the work which all day would repeat

For awhile drinking whiskey helped Johnny forget the war
And a honkey tonk angel that he met at a bar
But when he laid down at night and tried to sleep
He could see the man he killed, and sometimes he'd weep

The years went by and one day Johnny was old
He'd left the jungle for a life indifferent and cold
Then his mother passed away and he was alone
He often wondered where the years had all gone

Johnny kept living the only way he knew how
A peaceful resolution his mind would never allow
His life was so empty, no wife and few friends
Leaving for glory is the only way his troubles will end