Post by johnhamill on Dec 22, 2010 21:31:28 GMT 10
From the moment we open our eyes the new day
Puts us back in the vice of reality
A curious blend of boredom and tension
Fuelled by relentless uncertainty
We watch our children grow
They ask if they can go outside to play
We always answer no
Maybe in a month or so but not today
Behind barbed wire
Our days turn slowly into months then months to years
All things conspire
To grind us down till we grow weary being here
Time goes blindly marching on while we stand and wait
Gazing at democracy from behind padlocked gate
Then we retire behind barbed wire
A candle flickers in the night then disappears
Sometimes at night I lie there awake
Trying to fathom what sparked this insanity
Why are we locked up like rats in a cage
And treated like dregs of humanity
We learned our lesson well
You bombed us into hell and made hell freeze
Now the same self-serving crew
Say we’re jumpers of the queue not refugees
Behind barbed wire
We watch your city lights spread out like a sea of stars
Behind barbed wire
You call us aliens as if we came from Mars
Borders drawn to keep us over here and out of there
While capital unfettered chases profit everywhere
Behind barbed wire
Men and women just like you is all we are
The walls and the wires of the camp
Where they lock up our hopes and chain our dreams
Are the government’s approval stamp
When the hostel burns and the migrant screams
And the thugs take to the streets legitimised
Spreading the hatred that breeds in the squalor of slums
March to the drum
Live under the thumb
Behind barbed wire
We take the blame for what the system can’t provide
Behind barbed wire
Used like a curtain to conceal the class divide
The common threat that binds the nation and maintains the status quo
Protecting power and privilege at the expense of those below
When we retire behind barbed wire
Another fence goes up around the ones outside
Puts us back in the vice of reality
A curious blend of boredom and tension
Fuelled by relentless uncertainty
We watch our children grow
They ask if they can go outside to play
We always answer no
Maybe in a month or so but not today
Behind barbed wire
Our days turn slowly into months then months to years
All things conspire
To grind us down till we grow weary being here
Time goes blindly marching on while we stand and wait
Gazing at democracy from behind padlocked gate
Then we retire behind barbed wire
A candle flickers in the night then disappears
Sometimes at night I lie there awake
Trying to fathom what sparked this insanity
Why are we locked up like rats in a cage
And treated like dregs of humanity
We learned our lesson well
You bombed us into hell and made hell freeze
Now the same self-serving crew
Say we’re jumpers of the queue not refugees
Behind barbed wire
We watch your city lights spread out like a sea of stars
Behind barbed wire
You call us aliens as if we came from Mars
Borders drawn to keep us over here and out of there
While capital unfettered chases profit everywhere
Behind barbed wire
Men and women just like you is all we are
The walls and the wires of the camp
Where they lock up our hopes and chain our dreams
Are the government’s approval stamp
When the hostel burns and the migrant screams
And the thugs take to the streets legitimised
Spreading the hatred that breeds in the squalor of slums
March to the drum
Live under the thumb
Behind barbed wire
We take the blame for what the system can’t provide
Behind barbed wire
Used like a curtain to conceal the class divide
The common threat that binds the nation and maintains the status quo
Protecting power and privilege at the expense of those below
When we retire behind barbed wire
Another fence goes up around the ones outside