Kent State

You sprayed us with your mace You hit us with your clubs You knocked us to the ground You treated us like thugs You brought in the National Guard Soldiers not much older than I You armed them with weapons As helicopters circled in the sky You came onto our campus Then you shot us down When the smoke had cleared Four students lay dead on the ground Most people were so terrified They were afraid to move They didn’t know if the guards Were still in the shooting groove Fear and panic filled the air Students on the run None of them knowing If they could be the next one When it finally calmed down The carnage was clear to see Four students dead others wounded I thought in America we were free But on that day in May (1970) Under a burning sun So many of us wondered If freedom was lost or won The demonstration was because We didn’t like the Vietnam War Too many soldiers dying We were questioning what for We just wanted the war to end That’s all we were looking for But they came onto our campus They started their own war It wasn’t many years after this There was a so called peace The fighting came to an end As Americans had to retreat But who can claim victory When so many lives were lost I if the price both sides paid Was really worth the cost 11-20-05/RJH