Sometimes At Dawn

Back in the day When we would meet Down by the quay We'd be discreet And wrap our arms Around each scent; Exotic charms Of Orient But both of us Would not set free Our musty-lust Adultery My duty when In fair Saigon Was with the men Of rising-dawn Korea sent Their own marines Sadistic bent Like death machines Those early days Our fires burned young Entwined in praise With love songs sung But soon the air Became too thick As if despair Was airborne sick The numbers grew As soldiers came Like ants who knew Death changed the game The rumors spread When Saigon spies And numbered dead Began to rise And you and I Were losing heat Which made each lie One more defeat A magic place In sixty-five Diverse of face And so alive Was under now Deceitful spells That spoke of how Man creates hells Hotel lady Sells her favor Going crazy Wartime labor No fancy room To ply her trades Just street whore gloom As beauty-fades. The CIA In country first Before their play Made bodies burst. It was not long And this I swear The truth was gone From everywhere And soon our sin From choices made Was lost to din Of war's grenade But I will swear The truth today And I was there Part of the play For two long years We met each day To laugh through tears At our decay There is no way To cleanse a soul Just sad delay To meet truth whole Sometimes at dawn In dreams I'm cast I taste Saigon And you at last