Point Man

Look at every bush and movement in the trees,

Can’t see Charley but feel him looking at me.

Hold my fear in check, I can’t run and hide.

If I don’t do my job then everybody dies!

They depend on me to get them in close.

Stay downwind, yeah, Charley got a nose!

Better learn well, won’t get a second try,

Because if I don’t do my job then everybody dies!

Braver than brave, point man on a LRRP.

Yesterday John Wayne, today I’m Wyatt Earp!

You think I’m paranoid, I can see it in your eyes.

But if I don’t do my job then everybody dies!

 

©Larry Brinkley 1984

Foxholes

Foxholes

Did not save my soul

From the sounds of babies crying 

Or the smells of burning flesh.

But they did do

What they do best…..

 

©1985 Larry Brinkley

Sleeping With The Enemy

Proud tears. Oh, bitter tears. Bury your dead with head held high.

Let them think they won the fight…… don’t let them see you cry.

Don’t you say a single word, turn your anger into ice.

Your father knows, your father knows the foolishness of foolish pride.

Wounded Knee, oh, Wounded Knee….. you let my people pay the price.

You tried to speak, you tried to speak. Ahhhhh, but a lot of good men died.

Hear their screams on the wind, children crying from the grave.

Follow me, oh, follow me before there’s no one left to save.

You were foretold they would come to drive your dreams into dust.

What a waste! Such a waste….. my people torn by battle lust!

No one listened! I will listen! Spirit speak, I am yours!

Let my children’s children’s children live free again once more!

                      I will fight no more forever!

                      Let this wisdom comfort me.

                      I will wait a thousand years

                      Sleeping with the enemy……

©1994 Larry Brinkley

Look ‘Em In The Eye

Two men in the street, a Western town.

A slow heartbeat and the sun goes down on one.

A hand goes down, a gun comes up,

And the winner files another notch on his gun!

You got to stand up straight and look ’em in the eye,

And not give a damn if you die, if he dies, if everybody dies!

You got to pull your gun straight and aim where you should.

You get one shot, boy,  and you better make it good!

 

copyright 2008 Larry Brinkley

Red, Red Blood

Early morning sun, we come a HALO.

Don’t know where we come, don’t know where we go.

Get in, get out, leave em where they’re found

With their red, red blood soaking in the ground.

Nobody knows the mistakes they made,

The terrible truth of the double edged blade.

Can’t nobody tell if there ain’t no one around,

Just the red, red blood soaking in the ground.

It’s a time for stealth, no time for rock and roll,

The point of a blade is the only way to go.

Make ’em go to sleep and don’t you make a sound

Leave their red, red blood soaking in the ground.

Just one little slip, you know full well,

Buys a one-way ticket from this manmade hell.

All expenses paid, put no money down,

Just your red, red blood soaking in the ground.

copyright 2000 Larry Brinkley

Thirteen Months

The old man said, “Boy, you should have been there back in forty three!

We marched with ‘Blood and Guts’ and we whooped ’em fair and square!

We showed the whole world who was boss, and if you’d been there with me,

You’d be proud to wave Old Glory, and you’d damn sure cut your hair!”

Well, I swallowed back the bile and calmly walked away.

His words had touched a part of me that still smoldered deep.

There are those who brag of those they slaughtered in their day,

But God what I’d give for one full night of peaceful sleep….

How the hell does he know where I’ve been and what I’ve done?

I did what I had to do to keep myself alive!

Just to hold my boy again and watch the rising sun!

Not knowing where his mama’s at or if she’s still my wife!

For thirteen months I lived the lie that someone gave a damn,

There was a God somewhere, that what I did was right.

And so I killed and killed again and tried to forget what I am.

And somewhere in the battle lust I lost the lust for life.

I couldn’t sit and wait for the one that has my name

So I volunteered for Lurp and went and searched the bastards out.

I left ’em where I found ’em with no way to hide their shame.

They found out the hard way what Love is all about!

We couldn’t ‘lock and load’ until we were fired upon.

TV told its tale and politicians played their game.

They thought that they could cheat me if they took away my gun,

But I left a trail of blood that a blind man could trail.

My buddies called me ‘Two-Step’ because my blade was swift and sure.

Soaked in human blood was the way I counted coupe.

Hand to hand combat always left me feeling pure.

That way I could tell myself, “Buddy, it was me or you!”

Yeah, I still have the nightmares but I lived to walk away,

Satisfied I did my best to make the world a better place.

I came back to the World and went to hell that very day

When I woman called me Baby Killer and a man spit in my face!

How the hell do they know where I’ve been and what I’ve done?

I did what I had to do to keep myself alive!

Just to hold my boy again and watch the rising sun,

Not knowing where his mama’s at or if she’s still my wife!

For thirteen months I lived the lie that someone gave a damn,

There was a God somewhere, that what I did was right!

And so I killed and killed again to try to forget what I am!

And, somewhere in the battle lust, I found a lust for life!

© 1987 Larry Brinkley

There Will Be War (with Calvin McWha)

Lord of the rings and long-haired kings, seven black ships sailed into the west.

Fear came to rise in the gypsy’s eyes as the Whore launched her unholy quest.

Bones in the mud and rivers of blood as the innocence bled and burned away.

Nightmare scenes and guillotines as darkness veiled the light of day….

When the purple rein turns red and the she-wolf howls at night,

Warriors of the southern skies do battle with the Northern Lights.

When the middle full moon turns black, and the blood of the owl runs cold,

Cloven hooves stalk the hearts of men, bunker down and guard your soul.

Because the eggman, she comes, and the goddess don’t care no more.

The elder gods open up their eyes and smile…. There will be war!

In the eyes of the Wheel, the world is an evil place.

But have no fear, a button is pushed and the evil is erased.

Too bad you’re in the crossfire! Say goodbye to your baby’s face!

Retribution of the madman supersedes the Law of Grace!

And the eggman, she comes, and the goddess don’t care no more.

The elder gods open up their eyes and smile…. There will be war!

 

For a man to be a man, he has to count his coup.

He looks somewhere outside himself, he’s looking right at you.

But a true man among men will hang his head in shame.

He knows the only man worth killing is the man who bears his name!

And the eggman, she comes, and the goddess don’t care no more.

The elder gods open up their eyes and smile…. There will be war!

© 1995 Larry Brinkley