PROMISE

What does a man need to be a man?
So simple, so complex when you add it down,
If you haven’t a word you have nothing
My father said, before we put him in the ground.
How can you ride the crest of a wave
And never get wet?
How can you choose to take a side?
And say you never bet.

The Spanish and French played invasion games
Promised the Indian nations,
They butchered the buffalo, stole the gold
To build gasoline stations.
The natives protested, tried to resist,
The Cherokee, Sioux and Chippewa Cree,
Crazy Horse knew they were crazy
So they buried his heart at Wounded Knee.

Americans looked to the Oval Office
For a promise to end the slump,
They were dealt a heartless hand of cards,
With clubs and spades, no diamond, no trump.
Life lived with pleasure or life with pain
Hardly matters a whit,
Tongue in a molten mouth
Welcomes any spit.

Hard to play hard to get
If you’re not hard to get for a start,
That promise you made and forgot
Doesn’t matter; you have no heart.
The promise of great romance, out of control,
Going nowhere like a runaway train,
The thought is still father to the deed,
We all promise to start over again