E.J. Svoboda

I wanted to draw some attention to this wonderful state park.  It’s located in central Illinois in Mt. Zion.  221 acres of undisturbed forest filled with hickory and oak.  Some great nature trails and a lot of interesting photographic opportunities if you are into macro photography.  A reminder of what Illinois looked like before the corn and soybean fields.

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Ballad of Penny Evans

• Steve Goodman
• My name is Penny Evans and my age is twenty-one
  I’m a widow of the war that was fought in Vietnam
  I have two baby daughters and I do the best I can
  They say the war is over but I think it’s just begun I remember I was seventeen when first I met my Bill
  At his father’s grand piano we played old ‘Heart and Soul’
  I only knew the left hand part, he knew the right so well
  He’s the only boy I slept with, and the only one I will First we had a baby girl, we had two good years
  And next the warning notice came, we parted without tears
  Then it’s nine months from our last goodbye our second child appears
  And it’s ten months and a telegram confirming all our fears

  So once a month I get a check from some army bureaucrat
  And once a month I tear it up and mail the damn thing back
  Do they think that makes it all right? Do they think I’ll fall for that?
  They can keep their bloody money, it won’t bring my Billy back

  I never cared for politics, speeches I don’t understand
  Likewise I’ll take no charity from any living man
  But tonight there’s fifty thousand gone in that unhappy land
  And fifty thousand ‘Heart and Souls’ being played with just one hand

  My name is Penny Evans and my age is twenty-one
  I’m a widow of the war that was fought in Vietnam
  I have two baby daughters – thank God I have no son
  They say the war is over but I think it’s just begun

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