I have heard the words   "Never in all my years"   But what I had seen   was nothing to what I would hear   and what I could feel    His reputation went in front of him   carrying a red flag       I couldn't be certain of his bowed head   or even what he had meant it to be       But at first glance he had said   it's not easy fighting the twentieth century       I wanted to wash more than anything       You fool yourselves you are writers   You fool yourselves you are tellers of tales       I take apart what you put together       I stood somewhere between    the passing of the deed   and his dreadful motion.       He stood as only a dead man could