No Meter, No Rhyme, 1968 So Unkind

If there ever was a year that swayed the arc of US History  
such a year was nineteen sixty eight  
the hope, calamity and such bloodshed  
haunts the conscience of young and old  
 
The "clean for Eugene" brigade stuns LBJ  
compels Bobby Kennedy to run  
the Black Panthers make their presence known  
didn't stop the that sad day in Memphis  
a King was brought down  
 
Yet a coalition was brewing  
champion of all wage earners headed the United Farm Workers  
Appalachian farmers isolated and ignored  
the ghetto family living day to day  
topped off with the students now beyond their parents' control  
 
Then the shot that took the head  
as King's death had stopped the heart  
another Kennedy dead  
with California in his back pocket  
promise, promise, promise  
 
Nixon emerges from the shadows  
his claim to govern is peace and order  
Wallace wants a piece of the action  
the favorite son of the states' rights segregationists  
 
The blood flow would continue  
Humphrey nominated while heads were cracked  
a current of hate spreading all over  
cities burned both in Vietnam and at home  
 
Nixon would emerge the victor  
his paranoia would bring him down  
more deaths on Asia before then  
a legacy that would shake optimism to the core  
 
We stopped believing in officeholders  
to be focused on the just and moral cause  
no longer had faith in ourselves  
and have wondered down addictions many roads  
 
So when I say I am traumatized by the events of sixty-eight  
even though that was the year of my birth  
I trust you understand  
the "what ifs" always sadden me....