IT IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE

 Summertime comes easy to this flattened field
outside Gettysburg,
the sight of Pickett and his charge,
 
I have come back for one last defense,
of that clump of trees known as Cemetery Ridge,
where me and my boys, some seventy years before,
of Cushing's battery
defended this Union soil
against that suicidal yet beautiful charge
 
of those yellin Virginians,
who got it with full master from my canon
at point blank range!
 
My lord the rush of blood, I have dreamed about it every night sense,
heads and bodies a flaying,
it was a slaughter unimaginable,
but still they kept comin,
 
my artillery got so hot that day,
we couldn't touch it with our hands,
we poured water and dirt over the blazing cast iron,
trying to cool her down for once last
defense,
 
but still they kept comin.
 
I am today an old, old man, and this is my
last trip to the Gettysburg flank,
 
what remains of me and the Army of the Potomac
will defend the Ridge one last time for the Park Service,
cameras, and even President Roosevelt,
 
the Virginians today are old like me,
but still they hope to charge one last time,
 
among the bivouac of the dead,
 
I have heard Bierce and Chamberlain will be here,
along with Pickett and Longstreet,
Armistead, and that proud peacock Stuart,
 
although Jeb is late again as usual,
caught in traffic somewhere around Hagerstown,
gosh, you think he would have known,
 
There are twenty survivors of Cushing's battery,
ten from the southern side,
 
Here they came, someone shouts, don't shoot until
you see the white of their eyes!
 
our commander says in playful surprise,
 
and still they keep comin,
but today I am not afraid,
for I am ready to die,
I lived a good life,
my family is as sturdy as a oak
it is a good day to die,
 
that all too familiar pain in my chest
has come with today,
I do not reach for my heart pills,
let my death keep a comin,
 
I see the Virginians in front of me now,
old men in misfitting uniforms, their hearing aids
tangle like medals,
 
there is one last thing I must do,
before I leave this earthly battlefield,
 
I must hug my enemy, one last time,
to bid him an Ashton farewell,
then, I am square with the rebels,
 
fallin to the warm Gettysburg ground,
my heart has failed me this I know for sure,
 
in that haze between earth and the afterlife,
they all stand before me,
 
the famous and not so well known,
they smile and hug me,
 
welcome home, young fella,
here's a glass of brandy,
 
welcome into heaven,
but this much you should know,
 
there are no enemies here,
and killing is forbidden,
 
for all of us are like you,
we did our time on earth,
and today is our victory plan,
 
just keep them a comin,
on death's welcoming door.