On D-Day

On D-Day, I was in Rome.
I walked through narrow streets to the Vatican.
And I thanked the Pope
That I was there and not in Normandy.

Village by village, patiently
A slow, bloody ride up from Sicily.
And all roads lead to Rome, I guess.
But there's no time to dwell on the emptiness.

And when I was nineteen,
My hair turned as white as the cloud over Tripoli.
There at night, in the face of the war,
I exhaled in my sleeping bag to keep warm.

Looking back, I was one of the lucky ones,
Checking my boots by morning for scorpions.
And all roads lead to Rome, I guess.
But there's no time to dwell on the emptiness.

Be careful what you wish.
I hated a man - a sergeant from Baltimore.
I wished that his ship would sink,
And torpedoed it was, ten miles of Gibraltar.

And I felt guilty with a little tinge of fear
With he in the deep and I still here,
But my roads led to Rome, I guess.
And there's no time to dwell on the emptiness.

On D-Day, I was in Rome.
I walked through narrow streets to the Vatican.
And on the way back, they bombed us again.

Village by village, patiently
A slow, bloody ride up from Sicily.
And all roads lead to Rome, I guess.
But there's no time to dwell on the emptiness.