If there's a draft...

[Jugband_Blues]

with the possibility of future conflict in Iran looming, i wrote this to express how i feel about how i play into this whole situation. (i'm currently 16)

if there’s a draft, my life is over

if there’s a draft, my life is through

if there’s a draft, I’ll never do things

that I’d really like to do

if there’s a draft, I’ll either die or

come back home and never learn

and I’ll grow to be an old man

for my younger days I’ll yearn

if there’s a draft, my life is pointless

time will just have passed me by

if there’s a draft, I’ll never come home

and my parents both will cry

if there’s a draft, I will do nothing

only ask the question “why?â€

if there’s a draft, my life was worthless

I’ll have lived life just to die

I’ll never have a family,

and I won’t pass on my name

the town will mourn a week and then

forget me all the same

my parents won’t get over it

till my brothers sent out next

to march in line and follow orders

can’t tell one man from the rest

I really hope there is a God

so I’ll have some place to be

when I’m shot and killed

while still not seeing all I’d like to see

so before I die I think I’d like

to let some people know

I hope there is a God so when I die

I’ll have some place to go.

[Jenny]

OMG, this is so good, JB. My eyes are tearing up, now. My favorite lines are:

"if there’s a draft, my life was worthless

I’ll have lived life just to die"

Simple words, but they say so much.

Edited April 10, 2006 by Guest

[Earth-Angel]

That is one of the most emotional pieces here. SO thought-provoking, so real and so frightening.

So sad and so true, we do forget how it does feel when you don't know which turn your life might take and when things are out of your hands.

Very good stuff JB!

[Steel2Velvet]

Great piece, Spencer! Lots of thought and conviction expressed here. It got me reflecting on how lives were warped with the stress of living in a time of war AND a draft in the early to late 60's. So many decisions were predicated upon just the theme you expressed. Makes one wonder how young men maintained their sanity? I know music at that time was a big source of inspiration and empowerment.

[Jugband_Blues]

thanks guys. i just sat down with the thought in mind that i've always waited to be able to make choices about what to do with my life, and if the draft is reinstated, i'll have no choice again. it just kinda came out of me.

[Lucky]

Oh my gosh. You are currently 16. Quite a piece of writing kid. Kid. When you have to consider things like this, you ain't no kid. Thanks, you've made me think.

[Levis]

That's beautiful. I think we all need to see things from different perspectives, and I have always wondered about this one.

[Uncle Joe]

Spencer, if there's a draft we'll all have failed.

Loved your poem and the sentiment.

Back in the 60's we were told that we were assuring that this would never again be necessary.

Were I young again I'd join the "Hell no, I won't go" crowd.

[phil]

We lost a very close friend in Iraq. He was only 18. He used to babysit our children when my wife and I went out. He was a great kid, who joined the Marines. His parents are devastated. I truly hope he did not die in vain. Great thoughts JB and quite perceptive for a person your age.

[edna]

I love your poem, Jugband. It made me think... I wonder what I would do if there was a war...