Lyrics:

It was during the Vietnam conflict
A bunch of soldiers had been on a long hike
They arrived in a town called Saigon
And the next day being Sunday, several of the boys went to church
After the chaplain read the prayer the text was taken out,
Those of the boys who had prayer books took them out,
But one boy had only a deck of cards so he spread them out

The sergeant in charge of the boys saw the cards
And said soldier put away those cards
And after the service was over the soldier was taken prisoner
And brought before the propos marshal

The marshal said sergeant why have you bought this man here,
For playing cards in church sir,
And what have you to say for yourself son, much sir the soldier replied
the marshal said I hope so, for if not I shall punish you severely

You see sir I’ve been on the march for six days
And I had neither bible nor prayer book,
But I hope to satisfy you sir with the purity of my intentions

You see sir when I look at the Ace
It reminds me there is but one god
And when I see the deuce
It reminds me that the bible is divided into two parts
The old and the new testaments
And when I see the three
I think of the father the son and the holy ghost

And when I see the four it
I think of the four avengelists who preached the gospel,
They were Mathew, Mark, Luke and John
And when I see the five it reminds me of the five wise virgins
Who trimmed their lamps
There was ten of them
Five were wise and were saved
Five were foolish and were shut out

And when I see the six
It reminds me that in six days god made this great heaven and earth
And when I see the seven it reminds me that on the 7th day god rested
And when I see the eight
I think of the 8 righteous persons god saved when he destroyed this earth
There was Noah his wife and their 3 sons and their wives

And when I see the nine
I think of the leapers our saviour cleansed
And 9 of the ten didn’t even thank him
And when I see the king it reminds me once again
There’s but one king of heaven god almighty
And when I see the queen
I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is queen of heaven
And the jack of knave is the devil

And when I count the number of spots on a deck of cards
I find 365 the number of days in a year there are 52 cards
The number of weeks in a year there are 13 tricks
The number of weeks in a quarter there are four suits
The number of weeks in a month there are 12 picture cards
The number of months in a year

So you see sir my deck of cards served me as a bible,
Almanac and prayer book and friends this story is true
Because my son was that soldier.