This was the lyric I scribbled down after hearing the news about the slaughter of school children in Pakistan a few weeks ago. It was triggered by the title phrase, which I heard spoken on the news the night it was reported. My rage and indignation builds with every stupid, misguided "statement" those fundamentalist zealots make. Perhaps one of my song writer friends out there can fashion this into a better song. After the Paris attacks, it seems appropriate to post it now:
The Smallest Coffins
I’ve seen unthinkable things
That haunt my thoughts, haunt my dreams
Brought to you nightly by talking heads on TV
When did religion turn from sublime to obscene?
Cho:
Little minds just trying to grow
Slaughtered in a school room just for show
I hope they haunt their killers these little ghosts
They say the smallest coffins weigh the most
What do we make of religious travesty
Ignorant zealots practicing heresy
Repeating lessons unlearned from history
Repeating man’s penchant for atrocity
Who are these monsters who don’t answer to God?
And when did murder become the creed of the flock?
What evil among us causes our love to be blocked
What door do they guard so well it cannot be unlocked?
What about the rest of us who sit on the fence?
What is our excuse what is our defence?
How can the rest of us let this go on?
Without the sword how can such a thing be stopped?
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer 12/20/14
1 comment:
The last stanza is key. Politicians adopted PC standards and we let them, observing from our fences. People in Europe and Canada, and soon the U.S. passed laws saying we cannot speak about the problem and proceede to fine or send our courageous citizens to jail, just for speaking, while we sit on the fence.
You! On the fence. Sorry, there is no defence. You shall be Muslim along with the rest of the world.
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