Semper Fi

My father met Eleanor Roosevelt
 In 1945
 The war at last was over then
 And they were still alive
 Her husband was the President
 Till he ran out of time
 Her Franklin D. was history
 And they'd put him on the dime
 My father joined the leathernecks
 To stay out of the mines
 The new marine was just fifteen
 In 1939
 There were medals and malaria
 The south pacific war
 Through jungles that were paradise
 And were paradise no more
 Soldiers fight and soilders die
 Soldiers live to wonder why
 Semper fi fe fo fum
 Look out peacetime here we come
 Some of the men who did survive
 Were not the lucky ones
 War is only good for those
 Who make and sell the guns
 My father lay recovering
 The hurt was all inside
 Sometimes the wounds that never heal
 Are easiest to hide
 When Eleanor came bearing gifts
 To San Francisco Bay
 She gave my dad a blanket
 In the hospital that day
 That blanket meant alot to him
 My mother has it still
 Some forget the kindnesses
 That others never will
 Soldiers fight and soldiers die
 Soldiers live to wonder why
 Semper fi fe fo fum
 Look out peacetime here we come