Summer Rose

Summer sky at twilight, sweet fragrance on the air
Memory unfolding like my lover's loosened hair
I'm riding with my buddies, it's 1969
Life is like a ripe peach on our lips so sweet and fine

The promise of the harvest, the fields so green and wide
We feel the pow'r and glory as we watch the miles go by
The highway stretches on ahead, the summer never ends
I feel its kiss upon my cheek, the warm embrace of friends

Love fills the heart with the beauty of the rose
Weaves through the soul every blossom that she grows
Love opens us to the newness of the dawn
But then, like the summer rose,
She's gone

After graduation, we were scattered round like seed
Some of us to college, some to work and need
Tommy was the first one called, then Tim and Neal and Bill
The gentle heart of youth cut down, honed for the killing fields

The rolling of the thunder, the coming of the storm
No shelter to run under, no place that's safe and warm
Youth gives us its courage; war the same old lies
The well by war is poisoned, its terror their eyes

CHORUS

The war was never over except for those who died
The people hid it from their minds
Though the soldiers couldn't hide
Tom and Billy lost their lives, Timmy lost his mind
And Neal's lost in the bottle still, a shadow doing time

Love, fill our hearts with the beauty of the rose
Weave through our souls every blossom that you grow
Love, open us to the truth that heaven sends
It's time for the killing fields to end
It's time for the killing fields to end