A Real Dream

A Real Dream

Just sittin’ on a homemade raft
And floating down a stream
Just sittin’ on a homemade raft
It was a childhood dream

I use to sit and watch the things
That older kids could do
Sit a and wish and hope someday
That I could do them too

Now you see I cannot see
I lost my sight in Nam
My buddy tripped a booby trap
I lost it to a bomb

I still recall that homemade raft
And floating down a stream
I know it wasn’t really true
It’s just a childhood dream

I remember when I wanted to
Be a pilot of a plane
I remember when I was a kid
And playing in the rain

I cannot see the kids who play
Outside my front room door
I know I’ll never see again
It’s lost for evermore

I sit and stare at darkness
My eyes are open wide
At times I think of Viet Nam
And wish I would have died

For now I’ll close my sightless eyes
And go back to my dream
Of sittin’ on a homemade raft
And floating down a stream



By Phil Rider, Somewhere in the 70’s