Snippets from Camelot - Hawkeye Reis

Hawkeye Reis

Studying medicine can jolt you into real life pretty suddenly. Ali Cimen (AKA Hawkeye Reis) is in his fourth year as a medical student at the University of Western Sydney. He sang “Tough” at Camelot last week, his heart-rending song dedicated to “King”, a patient he met in palliative care.  

Here are the lyrics:

I used to run eight miles every day, young man,

See that's what you did back then,

No iPhone, no laptop computers, just you,

Your two legs, your two hands

I was training for the army you see, young man,

All my friends had gone to war,

Sixteen nine months I snuck my way in, saw some things I did,

Saw some things you wouldn't understand.

Now my shit just collects in a bag on my chest,

And I need someone there just to help me get dressed,

And the doctors keep saying that I should just rest,

So I sit here all day, stuck in this bed,

While my legs,

Just waste,

Away

Oh my legs,

Just waste,

Aw

My wife's lost her mind, young man,

She wanders around in a world of her own,

She needs me, She needs me at home, young man,

Where's your compassion? Don't you understand?

Now my shit just collects in a bag on my chest,

And I need someone there just to help me get dressed,

And the doctors keep saying that I should just rest,

So I sit here all day, stuck in this bed,

While my legs,

Just waste,

Away

Oh my legs,

Just waste,

Away

Oh I'm going to break this bed and run away

See I was a tough, old bastard, young man,

What have you done to me, what have you done to me,

Yes I was a tough, old bastard, young man,

What have you done to me, what have you done to me,

Yes I know where I'm headed, young man,

Oh I know where I'm going, young man,

Let me go home, let me go home, let me go home,

See I was a tough, old bastard, young man,

Look at me now