Laurence Overmire - Gettysburg, July 3, 1863 lyrics

The sun rose so quietly this morning Gently waved the dark away Green trees and blue sky I thought I'd never seen before I smelled the dew upon the ground, kissed a blade of gra** Birds were singing My God—singing Coffee from the campfire made me think of home Ma was in the kitchen in the farmhouse Time to milk the cows And for a few precious seconds I wasn't where I was Somewhere in Pennsylvania Guarding the gates of hell. The cold clank of steel quickly brought me back again Gunpowder in my nostrils Blood and rotting flesh The moaning of the wounded The dirge that will not end My comrades sit around me Something dead inside their eyes Staring at the fire Waiting... There is no future for a soldier The past is best forgot So we bite into the hardtack and fix our bayonets. The bugle sounds Its shrill command We are on our feet again Step into formation, crouch behind a wall Check my ammunition Doesn't seem like much When you hold it in your hand These lumps of lead But mothers, wives and daughters, sons will lose their hearts today A thousand Christmas mornings laid low in hot July. There's a mile of field before us And a line of trees where the Rebs are hid I used to plant in fields like this Bring life out of the ground But there's a time for every season Now it's ashes to ashes and dust to dust, I reckon. A puff of smoke and then another and Damn we're being shelled Oh God, the noise The noise I cannot stop the noise Oh God, don't let me be hit Oh God, don't let me die Oh God, Oh God! The cannon just keep pounding The cannon do not care The cannon don't remember The cannon cannot die Cannon left Cannon right Cannon in the center Cannon up Cannon down Cannon in the middle Cannon arm Cannon leg Cannon heart Cannon brain Cannon, cannon, cannon, cannon Cannon Cannot Die… Silence now. Only smoke and blood and crying The pall of d**h upon the air. Look The woods are moving Look there The woods Gray And moving Moving Slowly bu*ternut Moving Flags Waving Moving Steel catches sunlight Glorious light My God, what proud beauty These are not men Surely These are strange gods Heaven must have sent Coming Coming to k** me... “Fire! ” The gates of hell are open! “Fire! ” The shout rings sharp and clear Guns answer guns All is smoke and flame And falling men Fallen angels Their ranks are crumbling, crushed and bleeding Falling Falling by the score Limbs and earth are shattered O proud d**h You scream Your bloody Rebel yell AIIEEEEEAAAHHHHHHHHHH! ! ! ! Load and fire Load and fire My hands must move with speed It's him or me It's him or me And one of us must die Thousands dead, heaped in piles Still they come, still they come Stagger, limp, and bleed Murder! Murder! I am Murder! I am d**h! I am Murder! I am d**h! They're running, coming Here they come Here they come Over the dead, straight for the wall! Goddam you, Reb Goddam you GODDAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMM! My bayonet goes through you So Easily Do not look at me that way You are my enemy You are the foe No do not Do not forgive me I have k**ed you No do not Do not die Do not die I have k**ed you I have k**ed you And you You You Are Me. It's cold here. They say we won today. I don't know. I don't much care. The sun will rise again tomorrow But the blood won't go away. At least the night is quiet The stars The stars know more than I ever will. There's nothing left for me Nothing more Nothing But to pull my blanket ‘round me And sleep. Sleep.