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News and War

I saw hell on the news
In the eyes of his best friend
I heard hell on the radio again

I saw blood on the streets in the town of my birth
I saw ten shooting stars fall to dust on the earth
And I heard the animal sobs of his mother
I heard her plaintive lament

And I tried to explain but my tongue held no words
And I looked to the north but the city had burned
While ten thousand marines fell like rain on the earth
And each one was weeping for all he was worth

And they prayed
Oh my God
I will never understand until my dying day

I met a man with a broken back of stone
Wild-eyed in the park by my home

And he told me a tale of a fellow who'd died
And he said, girl, you couldn't believe if you tried
There was glory upon him like sun on the water
And if you'd been there you'd have cried like his daughter

For the waves became still as the crowd bared its teeth
And the raging machine joined its hand with the beast
And they laughed with a sneer as he shuddered and creaked
And I locked to his eyes as the tears coursed his cheeks

And he prayed
Oh my God
 They will never understand until their dying day

-Alex Rhodes Fleeman