There are thousands of boys and men
Being sent in planes and ships
To a land far and foreign
And only a few well-disguised crooks,
And perhaps future history books,
Could tell you why.
The pretense is security
And the innocent’s purity
When asked hard questions
They blame past presidents,
Making the death of our people a mockery
In the presence of their hypocrisy.
And when they kill my father and brother
Will they tell me I’m still free?
Or was it all just vanity disguised as liberty?
And when they rob my mother
Of all she loves
Will they deprive her of her sanity?
And when the straggling survivors come home—
When our former children return home
Will the arms they find waiting
Be cold and sterile and ungrateful
In a world that just wants to move on
From their sacrifice.
We offer up our country and our lives
To the whims of egoists
Because they are the only fools
Who could possibly want the job,
Propped up by ourselves to rob
The nation of our dignity.
