When I was Young
Lyrics by Peggy Seeger
When I was young I loved a lad and gaily we was wed,
I knew no greater pleasure than to follow where he led,
But when he went away to war oh sorrow be to me,
For you cannot follow soldiers bearing guns across the sea
They made him leave his wife and child to march on foreign lands,
Can they make him stalk a stranger with a bayonet in his hands,
What kind of man can force a man who's married to agree,
To take the lives of men with wives bearing guns across the sea
I know no field more baron than this life I live alone,
I know no sorrow greater than to see our growing son,
Will he too become a lively man ‘til other men decree,
That he lies still as his father does in a grave across the sea
Were I the wind I’d bring the cloud to lands that need the rain,
Were I a bird I’d sing of things that comfort men in pain,
Were I a statesman leading men in near or distant lands,
I’d pass a law that only tools of peace be in our hands.
