Say what you will, say I'm tired or insane
And tell me what flowers are for.
Tell me to come inside from the rain,
No marbles have I any more.
Say, "come inside for your youth is now over."
-- Watch me tarry to taste the clover.

Tell me I've thirty-five years in a row,
That even the mountains descend.
Say "Life, my friend, has nowhere to go,"
And "You stand at childhood's end."
Tell me, oh tell me, say what you will
-- But I'll always run over the hill.

Now we find fall and all its dead leaves
And now the winter wind clenches.
Point at snapped limbs and how the ground heaves,
At veterans who sit on park benches.
Of nightmares and trenches, show what you see
-- See how high I can climb this tree?

There's a damp earth wall that's six feet tall
To be made for mine and their faith.
Dig it for them when my heartbeat is small
When I've lost my brain or my breath.
Tell me my death is not far from hence
-- Then watch me jump over the fence.

When I'm not remembered and never missed,
When my body is part of the rain,
You can say to my face I no longer exist,
Tell my tombstone you're there to explain;
Say "He lived in vain." Say what you will
-- But I'll always run over the hill.