RAGING AGAINST THE BARS AND THE BRAID (VIETNAM ERA 1973)

I was born poor with no lock on my door.
The fields were my playground.
My neighbors wore fur.
In them no hatred was found.
The peace of the night, the sweat of the day,
No need to know the difference twixt working and play.
Enjoying existence all becomes play.

With this frame of mind I enter this time.
It seems that life has no reason
Existence no rhyme.
I work for the sick to help cure the well.
Ignorance gives orders.
Competence obeys.
What life is this when happiness is found in getting away?

I knew how to love.
You taught me to hate.
I wanted to help.
You said I should kill.
You gave me my freedom
To follow your will.

You taint all you touch
With anger and hatred and your gold braided crutch.
If expertise were caused by gold bars and braid,
Would we not all be issued them on the day we were made?
What a fine world that would be;
All experts at all.
Could we all then be free?
Or would we then all be slaves
to the bars and the braid?

I've worked hard for your system.
You complain of my hair.
I cut my hair.
You complain of my clothes.
I change my clothes.
Now, you complain of what's in my mind.
Well, I've got news for you mister.
You mess with my head and you're gonna find
Some thing's missing in yours turning up in mine.

I've not sold my soul to the gold and the braid.
That crap won't tell me of what I am made.
I'm built on emotions only I can control.
I love my freedom to live as a man.
I'll not do as you.
I'll not live a life that others decide.
I'll not sell my soul to this system of hatred and genocide.

So you continue to do as you've been.
My time is short in this sin.
Then you can destroy
And I'll help to build
A country where you're not allowed
With your gold and your braid.

The battle is brewing.
A war is a hand.
But, I'll choose the time and the place.
Then stripped of your crutch
We'll meet man to man.
Then we'll see just where you stand.

The hatred you taught me will be turned against you.
The emotions I control will be unleashed against you.
So keep up the work.
For the seeds that you sow
Add souls to my army
And then you we'll destroy.