To Remember and React
Weathered historians speak of ancient wars
With piercing swords, sabers, and fallen walls
The crying of families, the weeping of the torn-up earth
As the honorable warriors answer their final, deadly calls
We read those books with a fearsome fascination,
An imagination that drives us wild, crazy inside
We think “How exciting that would have been,
To live in a world where peace is turned away, denied?”
But as we read the newspapers, watch our flickering screens
Our faces turn away in horror as tears well in our eyes
For it seems like there is no good, innocent news anymore
Only stories and reports of evil treachery and lies
What group is to be blamed next, thrown underneath the knife
To be taken out to pasture and labelled the “scapegoat”
For this earth is scared to death of itself
Our minds sing a single song with selfishness as the only note
We see bodies wash up on sandy beaches,
We see small schoolgirls vanish without a trace
We see bombs whistle through the air to fall on cities
We see cold-blooded murders based on race
Wives lose their husbands, children lose their mothers
A teenager crawls away from her burning village somewhere
And while this happens, our food is burning,
So we turn off the news with a quiet, heartfelt swear
Suddenly, when it’s real, when it’s not in dusty old pages
We can’t stand it anymore, can’t stomach it anymore
So we throw up and wish for our pains to leave us ALONE
Wish to forget what is making our fragile hearts ache and sore
Yet in this moment all we can hear is the word “Hate”
Not love, or hope, or help, or kindness
Don’t worry, we’ll be great again, but will that mountain,
That tower we built be built on blindness?
Even though we are all the same type of human
With families, hopes, lovers, and far-fetched dreams
We all bleed the same, and we all die the same
Is that so hard for us to remember?