this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war

we love and support our troops, just as we love and support the Iraqi people – without exception, or precondition, or judgment.

image and poem below the fold

Agnes J. Raymond, left center, kisses her daughter Jaclyn Raymond during a military funeral for Jaclyn’s son, Army Spc. Jared Raymond, in Swampscott, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. Raymond was killed Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006, when the tank he was driving was hit by an improvised explosive device in Taji, Iraq.
(AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)


Agnes J. Raymond, left center, hugs her daughter Jaclyn Raymond during a military funeral for Jaclyn’s son, Army Spc. Jared Raymond, in Swampscott, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. Raymond was killed Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006, when the tank he was driving was hit by an improvised explosive device in Taji, Iraq.
(AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)

Ballad For A Friend
by Bob Dylan

Sad I’m sittin’ on the railroad track,
Watchin’ that old smokestack.
Train is a-leavin’ but it won’t be back.

Years ago we hung around,
Watchin’ trains roll through the town.
Now that train is a-graveyard bound.

Where we go up in that North Country,
Lakes and streams and mines so free,
I had no better friend than he.

Something happened to him that day,
I thought I heard a stranger say,
I hung my head and stole away.

A diesel truck was rollin’ slow,
Pullin’ down a heavy load.
It left him on a Utah road.

They carried him back to his home town,
His mother cried, his sister moaned,
Lisin’ to them church bells tone.

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