War.

There’s always been war, war isn’t new

Britain invaded France, France invaded Britain

Ten miles of land taken away, ten miles taken back

The Catholics against the protestants

The Christians against the Muslims

Everybody against the Jews

They avenge the killing of their fathers and uncles

Their sons avenge the killing of their fathers and uncles

Napolean, Ivan the Terrible, Alexander the Great

The Hitlers, the Mussolini’s

The Blairs, the Bushes, the Cheneys

Marines march in lockstep at the US Open

Fighter jets fly above, thousands stand attention

The Army marches at Nascar

Military music blares at football games

Boys are clobbered, we applaud, we cheer

when they’re carried off the field

Their fathers call them heroes, we pay them millions

Hockey players legally assault one another

Men yell kill him kill him, they call that competition

Its war, its indoctrination, its glorification, its normalization of war

War against terrorism War against drugs War against Crime

Family Feuds are family wars, its war its still war

Star Wars, even Lord of the Rings is about war

The Civil War is on public TV

The Japanese War is on History

We say we hate war, we love war, we need it really

its everywhere I look, everywhere I see

You say I’m pro-war because I say they’ll always be war

I’m resigned to war, you say I’m wrong, we should have peace

I say read your history, you can’t rewrite a thousand years, a thousand wars

Talking about war makes us blind, makes us deaf

We close our eyes, close our ears

Only thinking of what to say next

They’ll always be war, we can’t help it

Just like the birds, the mammals

the fish, ants, the bees

We are mammals, we are animals

Like all living things

Fighting for supremacy, fighting over territory

Tim Verhaegen

Thu, May 15, 2008 at 9:20 PM