American Pastoral by Songwriter Yuk Chun Tsui (Yuki )

American Pastoral

A legend of the American dream,
he fled the Nazis by a Russian stream
and grew up in the Chicago ghetto
with Ukrainian parents unsettled.

Never thought the seemingly happy boy
would someday leave the Illinois
and his whole family behind.
Not knowing
that marrying a virgin was blind.

With a full scholarship he went to Stanford
which changed his life of comfort.
A young doctor with shining eyes
was in fact, a catcher in the rye.
Nurses in night shift flocked around him.
A sympathetic bedside manner lay within.

An Orthodox Jew leading a hippie life.
Among magic dragons he learnt to be precise.
Leaving his family behind.
Every night in the ward
he mingled with nurses from the Philippines.
Their exotic smiles started an engine
leaving his family behind.
Oh…Ho…

Yet an empty feeling always came after ecstasy.
He knew endorphins were all but a matter of fantasy.
Better use cocaine instead,
Better than having loveless affairs fed.

But whenever he saw his quiet wife at home,
he felt life was just like a splash of foam.
So he left her and the children
despite her virginity cost a fortune.

His second wife 20 years younger
still couldn’t make him happier.
A great girl like Hillary,
A career woman in the film industry,
sent him an ultimatum,
“Either we get married or I go.”

The seemingly happy boy never stopped committing adultery
and was fixated on the age of 25.
“I like this age,” he said to himself
when his prostate started going haywire.

Whether he was ever in love no one knows.
His exotic smiles have no place in his obituary
that reads
“His wife of 30 years is his soulmate,”
who knew nothing about his nice treats.