He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling out,
and he sat around the Legion telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he had fought in and the deed that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes everyone.

And 'tho sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,
all his buddies listened, they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer, for ol' Bob has passed away,
and the world's a little poorer, for a VETERAN died today.

No, he won't be mourned by many, just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary, very quiet sort of life.
He held a job and raised a family, quietly going on his way;
and the world won't know his passing; 'tho a VETERAN died today.

When famous people leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
while thousands mourn their passing and proclaim that they were great,
Papers tell of their life stories, from the time that they were young,
but the passing of a VETERAN is often unnoiticed and unsung.

Some receive large salaries and grand is how they live,
it's sometimes disproportinate to the service that they give,
While the ordinary VETERAN, who offered up his all,
is paid off with a medal and perhaps a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them, for it is so long ago, that our
Bobs and Jims and Johnnys went to battle, but we know.
It was not some other guy with a compromise and ploy,
who won for us the freedoms that our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you like to have a soldier, with a never-waffling stand?
Would you want a VETERAN, who has sworn to defend,
his home, his kin, and country, and would fight until the end?

He was just a common VETERAN, and his ranks are gowing thin,
but his presence should remind us, we may need his likes again.
For when countries are in confilct, then we find the military's part,
is to clean up all the toubles, that some other people start.

If we cannot do him honor, while he's here to hear the praise,
then at least let's give him homage, at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline, in the paper that might say:
Our country is in mourning, for a VETERAN died today.

From the Heart of Angel