Cry Your Tears

We saw that empty early morning skyline.
3,000 dead; more wounded; and millions terrified.
And you want us to cry your tears for you

But we’re still crying tears of our own.
In response to 3,000 dead you killed over 100,000 civilians.
How can you justify that? You didn't mean to.
Didn't mean to? You dropped bombs on their heads.
Destroyed homes, schools and clinics; millions without homes.
An entire generation lost.
And you want us to cry your tears for you

On your Wall you list each soldier by name
Each individual is counted 58,178
You’d count the hairs on their heads if you could
We count our dead in the millions
Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laos – millions dead – mostly civilians
And you want us to cry your tears for you
We’re short on tears to cry for you with all these tears to cry of our own

You place high tariffs and trade restrictions on rice, sugar and other items we make.
Yet you demand that we eliminate trade barriers to your products.
You poison a generation of minds with your video games
Stuff a weeks’ worth of sugar into one serving of cereal
Your kids are so high on sugar you have to medicate them
You use television as a babysitter
Making the innocent the new virgin offerings to the new gods of profit
Now you want us to cry your tears for you.

In your uncontrolled hedonism you emptied your wallets
52” TVs; cars; boats; vacations; homes you can’t afford
You spend more on cosmetic surgery than entire nations spend on pediatric care
You accumulated as much debt as you could
And then you borrowed more with the bill going to your children and grandchildren
And you want us to cry your tears for you.

Our past is your future
The way the story is unfolding we may end up crying together
As in crying at the same time