While in the form of the owl The goose and the wren left the shores of maryland To find better oxygen while the outcry of twenty men Run from the nearby battalion as if we avoid their light Then we might make it home tonight And one old crook Carries a very heavy book Friends would say "Sir, are you sure some good could come of your learning?" And he said, "my girl gave it to me just before the war I've never read a book like this before It's giving me kind of a kind of a burning" But if it is love then I'm not quite sure if I should keep it But I've heard it's apart of the whole so I guess I need it But I'll certainly be sure to stay above the ground Lately beautiful things got a way of bringing me down Here lie one hundred men, fighters every one of them They went into the light and, oh, no they won't be home tonight And I came upon a kid with a kite Despite the storms said he's going to fly So I said, "brother, what would your mother say?" And he said, "hold your tongue, it was a present And god damn I am a man, I ain't afraid of the rain" But what can a bystander do? No more than watch the spidery lights take a hold of you "But you know I warned you, boy, you know I told you, boy I'll hold you back, boy but now I don't know But cause in a curious kind of way I want to grow along with you" And morning did come, I was standing struck dumb By a dead man in the sun And the only live one held a string from his thumb That stretched up to the sky Where the heron flew by singing, "oh, me and, oh, my" And the goose and the wren No I have not seen them but the water looks nice So I do not think twice And I'm sure that they're fine Very good friends of mine 'Cause sometimes I can't tell when things are unwell By the look of the sea, staring straight back at me And I miss him, I do but I think it is true That when the love go, it's the lovers who show Just how lonely they are in a song or a scar Sincerely your friend, write back to me wren I've been thinking too much down here in the sand The farmer stands and says, "what happened to the land? It used to be fertile It used to be good, when I was a lad" The farmer calls out to this men says "It's getting late boys, it's best you come back in"