Posts Tagged ‘War’

for the soldiers I have known

August 18, 2021
there’s no magic words
to protect you from the hurt
there’s no magic words
there’s just a lot of dirt

there’s no magic words
to cover up the lies
there’s no magic words
for the empty in their eyes

there’s no magic words
just try to stay real
keep your people close
and take the time to heal

by Richard W. Bray

how many children did you kill today?

September 21, 2019

Washing out the spot
That never goes away
How many children
Did you kill today?

Staring at the basin
In all your distress
What happens in your head
Is anybody’s guess

Now you’re making speeches
Reciting practiced lies
I wonder what’s behind
The empty in your eyes

Where does it come from?
The hunger that devours
Destroying whole countries
For a little taste of Power

by Richard W. Bray

Yemeni lives matter

September 29, 2018

Yemeni lives matter
Iraqi lives too
Syrians are human beings
Just like me and you

Yemeni lives matter
We are the things we do
We make the bombs that kill babies
We avert our view

Pakistanis bleed
They eat and shit and screw
Like the people you know
They love their children too

We sell ourselves a story
When we do bad things
But our guilt cries out
Like a bell that always rings

by Richard W. Bray

Acting Grown

August 18, 2018

maybe when the grownups
start acting grown
we’ll stop choosing money
over flesh and bone

maybe when the grownups
start acting grown
we’ll send compassion
instead of drones

maybe when the grownups
start acting grown
we’ll pick up a child
and put down the phone

maybe when the grownups
start acting grown
we’ll take care of each other
and cast away stones

by Richard W. Bray

All you crazy dreamers

June 23, 2018

All you crazy dreamers
You silly, silly fools
Wanting Medicare for all
And parks and roads and schools

All you crazy dreamers
You’re such a bunch of clowns
Bitching and moaning
When our bridges fall down

All you crazy dreamers
You’re so full of boloney
We can’t protect ourselves
With rainbows and ponies

All you crazy dreamers
You’ll never understand
We blow up other countries
For a stronger Homeland

It’s a mean and scary world
If you really love your moms
You’d spend all your money
On guns and tanks and bombs

by Richard W. Bray

Love

December 30, 2017

Love don’t do the dishes
Love won’t tie your shoes
Love didn’t cook your dinner
Love can’t change a fuse

Love will not protect us
Love cannot atone
Love don’t stop our leaders
From dropping all those drones

Love don’t bomb no babies
Love don’t start no wars
We do a trillion ugly things
Love ain’t keeping score

Love won’t fix the shower
Love can’t brush your hair
The only thing it’s good for
Is making people care

by Richard W. Bray

Machine

December 27, 2017

They wanna count you, classify you
Stamp a number on your head
Aggravate you, allocate you
Every day until you’re dead

They sanitize and organize you
Till you fit in the machine
Hypnotize you, terrorize you
Till you’re lonely scared and mean

Indoctrinate you, fill-with-hate you
And nourish you with lies
Calibrate you, automate you
And march you off to die

by Richard W. Bray

Robust Action

February 4, 2017

zzcluster

Strength is all
They understand
Be undaunted
Be a man

Be resolute
And stay the course
With muscular vigor
And robust force

Stout resolve
And rugged might
Are all you need
When you are right

Be diligent
And brave and strong
Send more guns
And drop more bombs

by Richard W. Bray

Think Tank Warrior

February 5, 2015

Sing a song of freedom
Sing a song of war
The happy, hearty hegemon
Hears the eagle roar

He will cheer to loose the hounds
But he simply can’t be found
With the boots that hit the ground

Sing of liberation
Sing a song of war
Intrepid chairborne ranger
Like a strapping rogue of yore

But he’ll never be around
When the guns and missiles pound
Razing village to the ground

Sing of credibility
Sing a song of war
Gallant think tank warrior
Is manly to the core

In pools of blood they drown
As he buys another round
With his dirty, ill-gained Crown

by Richard W. Bray

The Last Thing a Man Wants

May 28, 2014

detroit

You can send a man to war
   Make him watch his buddies die
Don’t even say what they died for
   You can even make him cry
You can cut all his rations
   Down to the nitty-gritty
But the last thing a man wants
   Is pity

You can send his job away
   Cut his salary in half
You can abuse him every day
   You can have yourself a laugh
You can take away his home
   And brutalize his city
But the last thing a man wants
   Is pity

Take the country that he loves
   And starve it half to death
You can give his heart a shove
   You can steal his dying breath
You can trample on his pride
   And make his whole world shitty
But the last thing a man wants
   Is pity

by Richard W. Bray