When Did I Sign Up For The War by Kaelyn Cupil Lyrics
My country was torn, and so was my heart.
My father a loyalist
My lover a patriot.
My soul, a hopeless romantic.
When did I sign up for the war?
I was whisked behind enemy lines of fire, the line of Washington, the lines of lies Knox wrote when he said he’d bring me to be with him soon.
I fought the good fight the best way I could. I held up the home front, I made sure that the soldier camps always had bread, I cleaned countless wounds and I wrapped up the dead.
But someone please tell me, when did I sign up for the war?
“I was pleased with the inconvenience— nothing but bread and water might I be within twenty miles of you.”
I told my dear husband.
But he stood behind Washington. America’s savior. And I had a feeling, opposed to me, he much more liked that view.
“—if you should,” I wrote him, “may my life end before I know it- that I may die thinking you wholly mine. Adieu.”
He was charged Secretary of War. A master of destruction. He stayed away from home too long. Without him, I felt as if I could not function.
But still
I took up in arms the best way I could. I’d do more for my country, my life, and my liberty, more than any man would.
But when did I sign up for the war?
My country.
The big, the bold, the beautiful…
Had stolen my husband from me. In return, it gave me a little taste of liberty, but I digress. Henry Knox was a man built for war.
A war that took many men from their wives. They shared their lot with me. A sisterhood of loneliness and suffering.
A war that we did not sign up for.
But we still fought in the revolution. We made up the camps, we cared for the children and healed the sick, and when it came down to warfare, sometimes we even fired cannons.
We did not sign up for the war.
But we were the majority enlisted.
My father a loyalist
My lover a patriot.
My soul, a hopeless romantic.
When did I sign up for the war?
I was whisked behind enemy lines of fire, the line of Washington, the lines of lies Knox wrote when he said he’d bring me to be with him soon.
I fought the good fight the best way I could. I held up the home front, I made sure that the soldier camps always had bread, I cleaned countless wounds and I wrapped up the dead.
But someone please tell me, when did I sign up for the war?
“I was pleased with the inconvenience— nothing but bread and water might I be within twenty miles of you.”
I told my dear husband.
But he stood behind Washington. America’s savior. And I had a feeling, opposed to me, he much more liked that view.
“—if you should,” I wrote him, “may my life end before I know it- that I may die thinking you wholly mine. Adieu.”
He was charged Secretary of War. A master of destruction. He stayed away from home too long. Without him, I felt as if I could not function.
But still
I took up in arms the best way I could. I’d do more for my country, my life, and my liberty, more than any man would.
But when did I sign up for the war?
My country.
The big, the bold, the beautiful…
Had stolen my husband from me. In return, it gave me a little taste of liberty, but I digress. Henry Knox was a man built for war.
A war that took many men from their wives. They shared their lot with me. A sisterhood of loneliness and suffering.
A war that we did not sign up for.
But we still fought in the revolution. We made up the camps, we cared for the children and healed the sick, and when it came down to warfare, sometimes we even fired cannons.
We did not sign up for the war.
But we were the majority enlisted.