Better Men

I keep meetin 'em don't really understand why.. eyes always lookin ahead calm.. slow to rile yet quick to lend a hand. Kiss their mother on the cheek sayin a last goodbye.. going off to chase their fortune never knowin' why. Boys most, not yet men, practiced at the two step. farmers some.. worked out on the plain died in foreign holes to lilting strains of Lili Marleen. So special a rare thing, wearin a toothy smile.. singin' praises of home we'll all be home in just awhile. Necks turned dark, cracked and creviced under so many suns they were good sons the ones I knew. Such a steadfast course, their bright future laid in, hoping just the same the pews they prayed in. Full o' song with hearts unfurled, now to waylaid dreams, fine leaders of another world, all better men than me.