Only The Shadow Knows
Or The Howdy Doody Syndrome
by Gary Jacobson © 2001
Back in days of innocence for youthful Americans
I played cowboys and Indians
Watched “It’s Howdy Doody time,”
Dick Tracy fighting crime
Hoppalong Cassidy and Tom Mix
Were always in a fix
Playing with Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett
I was a kid with marbles in my pocket
My artillery on the 4th of July, a bottle rocket
I was Prince Valiant
Ever battling evil Lord’s defiant
I fought the bad guys with Superman
Long before I heard of Vietnam
Just when did I become a man
A boy really, sent to Vietnam
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men
Only the shadow knows
Only the shadow knows...
I played Flash Gordon exploring yet another planet
Playing at war with a stick for a bayonet
A soldier with GI Joe
On the way home from the ten cent picture show
Swashbuckling adventure running wild on the double
Mean Black Bart looking for trouble
Cliff hanging movies
Battling superheroes archenemies
Listening to girls swoon at the latest heartthrob
Ethics taught by Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob
I rode the plains with Buffalo Bill
Imagination caught in fantsy still
Before I was handed a gun, taught to shoot to kill
I played cops and robbers with Sergeant Friday
Humming “Till My Daddy Took The T-bird Away”
Till by real war sent far and away
Back then, I didn't have to worry about nothing
But girls
Discovering that difference like a kaleidoscope whirls
As raging hormones blossomed
In my ‘49 supercharged Chevy, heavily chromed
Girls
Oh Henry candy bars
Buck Rogers to Mars
Girls
Fighting the Alien horde
And their evil warlord
Girls
My hot rod with booming glasspack...
Running with the teenage pack
Girls
4 on the floor with overdrive
Man alive, I did that teenage jive
And oh yes, did I mention girls...
Just when did I become a man
A boy really, sent to Vietnam
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men
Only the shadow knows
Only the shadow knows...
At the Dairy Queen
Crew cuts and poodle skirts made the scene
I mean...
My only worry big honkin’ zits and Mr. Clean
We talked about which teachers we disliked most
My biggest worry, the football game we lost
The greasers and the nerds
I never even heard of no Montagnards
Just bullies and Shakepeare bards
What did I have to worry about?
The future lay ripe before me no doubt
At the hop dancing to “Wipeout,”
Where did it all go?
Where did my innocence go?
I really want to know...
Just when did I become a man
A boy really, sent to Vietnam
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men
Only the shadow knows
Only the shadow knows...
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child, But when I became a
man, I put away childish things...” 1 Cor. 13.12
each poem with more action
graphics and Pictures
Through pictures and poetry take a walk in "the park" with the 1st Air Cavalry on combat patrol. Experience the chilling reality that will give you the taste of "the Nam" on your tongue, leave the pungent smell of "the Nam" in your nostrils, and imbed textures of "the Nam" in your brain as though you were walking beside me in combat.
I welcome your comments! Email me at
pgriz
hotmail.com