Versions[]
Chuck Cooper in the musical The Confidence Man
Lyrics[]
This… wreck you see before your eyes
Was once a young man on the rise
This… Lazarus risen from the dead
Was such a smart boy, his father said
Such a sweet boy, his mother said
How do you make a boy a man?
Give him a foe he's better than
Give him a hero's call to war
Give him a cause worth fighting for
Give him a cause worth killing for
Follow me brother, through this field
Courage our sword and God our shield
There lies a fortress in the night
Let's have a look before it's light
Let's have a look by firelight!
Give us this day our daily flesh
Give us your young men, firm and fresh
Give us the strength to do God's will
Teach us to pray and then to kill
For the love of God—let me kill!
But the fort that I burnt was a farmhouse
It took a poisoned eye to destroy
And the soldier I killed was no soldier at all
And the man that I killed was a boy—like me
The man that I killed was a boy!
Suddenly I begin to run
Taking more lives before I'm done
"Don't you stop me! Don't you… why?!
Didn't I warn you? Didn't I?
I tried to warn you? Didn't I?"
Give us this day our daily flesh
Give us our bodies, firm and fresh
Give us the strength to get me home
Give me the chance to see my home
For the love of God—get me home!
Then I looked at myself in a river
But all I saw was human debris
So I looked for myself in the river
And found every corpse that I faced had a face—like mine
The face on the river was me!
But I did get home.
I got to my front door just in time to see my parents accepting the honors for their son…
A hero killed in action. A hero! Me!
There I stood when the shock killed my mother.
And I watched as her death killed my dad.
And as each of them died…
A part of my mind died… again…
And the last… gasp of grace from my soul…
I lost… I lost everything I had
Give us this day our daily flesh
Give us your young men, firm and fresh
Give us the strength to do God's will
Teach us to pray and then to kill
For the love of God—why?!
For the love of God—let me die....