Confession
Author: Scott Ainslie
We picked you up at your house.
Bound your wrists, taped your mouth.
Used our hands and our clubs.
You weren't human to us.
We drove home and kissed our wives;
Sang our children lullabies
Joked with our parents on the phone.
When we went to our cars, we went alone.
Chorus:
Once learned, never forgotten.
Once injured, ever scarred.
Some people will change like the moon;
Some are like stars.
We threw you back in the van.
Combed our hair; washed our hands.
We locked you inside;
Took you out for a ride.
It started to rain.
Your breathing was strange.
For five hundred miles.
Not going to trial.
Chorus
And is it night or is it day?
Did you see them take me away?
We have eaten our fill;
First light brings a chill.
Nothing left to defend;
The long night comes to an end.
We are makes of lies;
Fathers our children idolize.
As patriots: we were the best!
Now, we come forward and confess.
Chorus
Copyright 1997 Scott Ainslie
http://cattailmusic.com
"This song, written from a torturer's point of view, finds many of its
details in Steve Biko's killing, but it is a regrettably timely warning
for all of us about the use of patriotic emotions to justify behavior
toward our fellow human beings for which we could accept no other excuse.
"
Updated: 20 February, 2006
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