Gaza

When I was young it all seemed like a game
 Living here brought no sense of shame
 But now I'm older I've come to understand
 Once we had houses
 Once we had land
 They rained down bullets on us as our homes collapsed
 We lay beneath the rubble terrified
 Hoping, dare we dream?
 We gave up waiting
 For us, to dream is still a dream
 When I woke up, the house was broken stones
 We suddenly had nothing
 And nothing's changed
 We live, eight people, in this overcrowded heat
 Factory-farmed animals living in our own sweat
 Living like this is all my baby brother ever knew
 The world does nothing, what can we do?
 We will kick the ball
 We will skip the rope
 We will play outside, be careful
 We will paint and draw, we will say our prayers
 Outside the pitiless sun bleaches the broken streets
 The darkness drops in the evening like an iron door
 The men play cards under torchlight
 The women stay inside
 Hell can erupt in a moment day or night
 You ask for trouble if you stray too close to the wall
 My father died feeding the birds
 Mum goes in front of me to check for soldiers
 For every hot-head stone ten come back
 For every hot-head stone a hundred come back
 For every rocket fired the drones come back
 For thirteen years the roads have all been closed
 We're isolated, we're denied medical supplies
 Fuel and work are scarce, they build houses on our farms
 The old men weep, the young men take up arms
 We're packed like chickens in this town of block cement
 I get headache from the diesel, when it rains, the sewers too
 I had no idea what martyrdom meant
 Until my older brother, my older brother
 I'm sorry I can't continue
 You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind, it is said
 When people know they have no future
 Can we blame them if we cannot tame them?
 And when their hopes and dreams are broken
 And they feel they might as well be dead
 As they go, will we forgive them
 If they take us with them?
 Stay close
 Stay home
 Stay calm
 Have faith
 With the love of our family we can rise above anything
 Someday surely someone must help us
 With the love of our family we can rise above anything
 Someday surely someone must help us
 Even now we will go to school
 Even now we will dream to dream
 Someday surely someone must help us
 Nothing's ever simple, that's for sure
 There are grieving mothers on both sides of the wire
 And everyone deserves a chance to feel the future just might be bright
 But any way you look at it, whichever point of view
 For us to have to live like this
 It just ain't right
 It just ain't right
 It just ain't right
 We all want peace and freedom that's for sure
 But peace won't come from standing on our necks
 Everyone deserves a chance to feel the future just might be bright
 But any way you look at this, whichever point of view
 For us to have to live like this
 It just ain't right
 It just ain't right
 It just ain't right
 It's like a nightmare rose up slouching towards Bethlehem
 Like a nightmare rose up from this small strip of land
 Slouching towards Bethlehem
 It's like a nightmare rose up from this small strip of land
 Slouching towards Bethlehem
 It's like a nightmare rose up from this small strip of land
 Slouching towards Bethlehem
 It's like a nightmare rose up from this small strip of land
 Slouching towards Bethlehem
 It's like a nightmare rose up, like a nightmare rose up
 Slouching towards Bethlehem
 I can't know what twist of history did this to me
 It's like a nightmare
 It's like a nightmare (With the love of our family)
 (We can rise above everything)
 Towards Bethlehem (Some day surely someone must help us)
 Someday surely someone must help us