Twenty One

Red-winged Blackbird on a spilt rail fence I ain't seen since God knows when
Months ago up in Illinois along the Sangamon with my wife and boy
God I'm only 21, got a muzzle loading 58 Springfield gun
But I'd rather push my wooden plow
I'd feel the strain of the ox and a sweat stained brow
and I'd go back home but I don't know how

My face is black from the cook fire soot
I've got worn out legs and ten blisters on each foot
My letters might find her but her's don't find me
They say the post got lost up in Tennessee
And I'm proud to serve I just feel alone
At least the greycoats ain't so far from home
At night I hear the swampland sound
The mosquitoes here must weigh fifteen pounds
and I'd go back home but I don't know how

Last night we climbed up to the levee top
We could see the holes in the houses where the balls had dropped
12 pound 10 pound 8 pound shells, there was a symphony of crashes with the town hall bell
And it makes my heart stop every time the iron hits a white frame house like mine
John Pemberton please surrender now cause there's a stale smell over Vicksburg town
And I'd go back home but I don't know how

Red-winged Blackbird on a split rail fence, I ain't seen since God knows when