The Wall - Bruce Springsteen Cigarettes and a bottle of beer This poem I wrote for you This black stone and these hard tears Are all I've got left now of you I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing Laughing that you're shipping out probably I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry You and your boots and black t-shirt Ah Billy you looked so bad Ya, you and your rock and roll band Was the best thing this shit town ever had Now the man who put you here He feeds his family in rich dining halls And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all At the wall And I'm sorry I missed you last year Couldn't find no one to drive me If your eyes could cut through that black stone Tell me would they recognize me? For the living, time must be served So day goes on Cigarettes and a bottle of beer Skin on black stone On the ground those taste sweet flowers Ribbon, red as the blood Ya, as the blood you spilled In the Central Highlands mud the limousines rush down Pennsylvania Boulevard As the rain falls And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all hear the wild