CHILDHOOD'S END

The pain flashed like a headline Thrown upon the magic screen A thousand days, a single flame One instant in between A camera's prayer of silence Frozen church to grassy knoll One single act of violence Robbed a country of its soul We tuned in as the colors dropped The day when all the laughter stopped They change the guard The decades bend A dream dies hard at childhood's end The children weep Old men pretend The tide runs deep at childhood's end The future made its promise But our youth was double-crossed A war of fear, a failed Frontier One dream forever lost A destiny abandoned And an innocence betrayed A piece of every one of us Died in that motorcade A thousand days, ten thousand nights We all were in the killer's sights

They change the guard The decades bend A dream dies hard at childhood's end The children weep Old men pretend The tide runs deep at childhood's end We search to find a symbol That the ages can't dilute A lifeless oath, a ruined dress One tiny son's salute Forgetful minds remember Though the pictures peel and crack The day our childhood went away And never quite came back A nation's fate in one blind shot It closed the gates of Camelot They change the guard The decades bend A dream dies hard at childhood's end Our children weep Old men pretend The tide runs deep at childhood's end