CPS

Collateral Damage

Author: Nancy Nicolson

Oh the craws caa'd "Collateral,
Collateral, collateral"
An the craws caa'd "Collateral,
And The General's on the TV"

Now please tell me, General, how can it be
That women and babies lie dead?
"We weren't aiming at them, they just got in the way,
They're collateral damage", he said

And the craw caa'd "Collateral..."
An the wee dug barked for his boy

The boy he is gane wi his mammy and daddy
Their haill life piled on a cairt
He cairries his bundle o gear on his back
The heaviest burden, his hert

And the craw caa'd "Collateral..."
And Irene, she ran for the wiuds

She hid in the trees and she trembled wi fear
She stood on a twig an it cracked
Too frichtened tae answer the harsh "Who goes there?"
And a bullet tore intae her back

And the craw caa'd "Collateral..."
And the big strong man, he wept

His Faither an Mither were faur ower frail
Tae traivel tae some unkan place.
They stood, prood an plain, as his bus drew awa
And the tears burnt intae his face

And the craw caa'd "Collateral..."
There's a bairn on the road lyin dead

In Vietnam and Bosnia, Afghanistan
It was always the innocent bled
There's a Peacekeeper standing, a gun in his han
And a bairn on the road lying dead

And the craw caa'd "Collateral..."
There's a bairn on the road lyin dead

Copyright Nancy Nicolson

"During the war in Kosovo, John Simpson did a nightly  TV programme from Pristina on the war situation.  It was a war with high civilian casualties  -  not a phrase liked by the military on any side. They preferred to call it "Collateral Damage". Each evening's programme began with a signature recording, of crows cawing and one wee bark from a dog. As he reported the big events of war each day, he also drew searing little cameos from everyday life - or death - as it happened. I created a scenario for the wee dog barking, but the scenes of the wee girl shot in the back and the man weeping as his parents left in a bus, were incidents reported. "

Updated: 20 February, 2006 | Site editor | Legal