by
Elmer Ake
Looked like a good place to get out of the rain.
The roof was half gone and part of a wall,
But the stone chimney was still standing tall.
The place looked deserted; no one home at all,
Just a couple of dead cow lying in a stall.
Here in France in nineteen fourty-four,
The sun never shines, the rain constantly pours.
So we thought we would go in and build a fire
And maybe dry out for a couple of hours.
But sometimes you get things you don't desire.
We had no idea what was going to transpire.
So we went in and looked around,
And we were sickened by what we found.
A man and woman were laying on a bed,
Parts of a collapsed wall on their heads.
When we checked the man was dead,
And the woman was hanging on by a thread.
We could see she wouldn't be long on this earth.
When I pulled the covers back we could see she was giving birth.
Now us four guys thought we were tough,
We could walk around and brag how we were tough,
We didn't know anything about this stuff.
What do you do when fate calls your your bluff?
I told Vern get me some water and make it hot.
But I didn't have no idea for what?
Then the poor woman let out a sigh
And the baby popped out before my eyes.
Now you're supposed to make a new baby cry
But nobody ever told me why.
When I thought to check the poor woman had died.
Perhaps that is why the baby cried.
Us guys were proud of what we had done.
We were godfathers to a little son.
We had fought death and we had won.
We were four happy son-of-a-guns.
The little guy was hungry we could tell;
And he had good lungs cause he could yell.
He was about the youngest kid to ride in a jeep
On the way back he didn't make a peep.
He just lay on my lap and went to sleep
We gave him to the Red Cross to keep.
