Bloodsports

There are boxes packed with bullets,

there are crates all stacked with boxes

There are uniforms and hardware,

there are meals all wrapped in plastic

Through the night the ships are loading,

every night these ships are loading

Beneath the glare of the burning floodlights

and the dancing of the swarmed mosquitoes

And into the fire and the blood red sun

the old and rich still send the young men

Into a world of twisted steel

and the acrid smell of metal burning

And on the streets of hometown now,

we watch each other as if we're strangers

But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war

He says: this body I have been given

shall be returned unto its maker

Beneath my clothes these secrets hidden,

the sacrifice that I have to offer

By the checkpoint there are

soldiers and the cypress branches waving

And the light is hard as glass

and the sky is blue and cool and waiting

And into the fire and the blood red sun

the old and rich still send the young men

Into a world of twisted steel

and the acrid smell of metal burning

And on the streets of hometown now,

we watch each other as if we're strangers

But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war

These stupid empty words could all be written

on the cold pale skin

Of the dead laid out in shallow graves

along the road of bombed out palm trees

And in the corners of the bars and cafes,

in every town, in every nation

There are these blood-sports on the TVs

and the loaded toneless voices

There are cameras by the gravesides

and in the executioners' chambers

There are cameras high above us

to guide the missiles down from the heavens

And into the fire and the blood red sun

the old and rich still send the young men

Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of oil burning

And on the streets of hometown now,

we watch each other just like strangers

But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war