Well then, at the risk of frightening those among us who've passed the point of poetry saturation, I've just found that 21st Century wandering minstrels Seize The Day have done a fuckin brilliant nw song.
Once again they have managed to write what loads of people I know feel, and done it accurately, in a very short space and made it rhyme too.
UNITED STATES
(Theo Simon, January 2002)
It could've been Manhattan
on the day the market fell
And it could've been a candy-store
in Kandahar as well
And she might have been a moslem,
but it's kind've hard to tell
When your body's ground to zero
and your skin's been fried to hell
So tell me it's the war to end all war,
or don't tell me nothin'
'Cos if this sacrifice was not for peace,
it was not worth making.
Seems to me, you did your best
to put your hand in the hornet-nest
that bit you -
Just when it hit you -
There's other people hurt as much as you.
And grief is no excuse for what you do.
High-flyers at the corporation's
daisy-cutting edge
They hold each other's hands
and plummet from the window ledge
And the monitors have melted
on the coffee-deal which meant
5000 farmers wondering
where their livelihood just went.
America, my family,
the whole world feels your pain
And before this war is over,
you'll make sure we do again.
Even as the tower tumbled
on that fire-fighting team
We wondered who you'd barbecue
for puncturing your dream
So tell me it's the war to end all war,
or don't tell me nothin'
'Cos if this sacrifice does not bring peace,
then it was not worth making.
Seems to me, you did your best
to put your hand in the hornet-nest
that bit you -
But it still don't it hit you -
There's other people feel as much as you.
And freedom's no excuse for what you do.
I am not an Islamicist,
religion's not my thing,
But they're friendlier than Christians
and I like the way they sing,
And I want my sisters free to burn the burkha
if they choose
Then lie awake and calculate
what weight they need to lose
So tell me it's the war to end all war,
or don't tell me nothin'
'Cos if this sacrifice don't change the world,
it was not worth making.
Seems to me, you did your best
to put your hand in the hornet-nest that bit you -
When will it hit you -
There's other people need as much as you.
And greed is no excuse for what you do.
You're beautiful, big-hearted,
and in many ways you're free
And you're smart enough to get the world
how you want it to be
So it's hard for me to tell you
what you should'nt have to hear:
Your nation is that terrorist
most human beings fear -
Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Columbia and Nam,
Cambodia, Grenada,
Chile, and Afghanistan,
Palestinian and Iraqi,
and some more you never knew -
United states of people
who deserved as much as you
So tell me that you don't support this war,
or don't tell me nothin'
'Cos if this song of mine don't change your heart, then it was not worth singing.
But I believe you did your best,
chasing life and happiness,
Never wondered never guessed,
how the news had been suppressed
Of a never-ending killing-fest,
rip the kid from the Mama's breast,
Shrapnel thru her daddy's chest
while we're all singing "Glory Hallelujah!" -
I'm talking to ya -
Somebody made a killing in your name.
So take your power back, or take the blame.
Downloadable at
http://www.seizetheday.org/UnitedStates.htm
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