No Heroes

We are not the heroes, all the words we say can never change it

We are not the heroes, rewrite history or rearrange it

We are not 'the white hats', they are not 'the black'

And none of us on either side can save our children

On the day that we attack

I watch my babies sleeping, and they are barely two

They look out on a universe that's magical and new

I sit here and imagine, in this smug, heroic nation

What my children will look like next year

As they die of radiation

We all move our missiles closer to our enemies, until

We are forced to use computers to decide just when to kill

But computers have no judgement, or no love or hope or fear

So mistakes are that much easier

And nightmares cluster near

We are not the heroes, all the words we say can never change it

We are not the heroes, rewrite history or rearrange it

We are not 'the white hats', they are not 'the black'

And none of us on either side can save our children

On the day that we attack

I do not sing of spirits, so you're probably not scared

You couldn't do a thing about it, even if you cared

You are helpless pawns of masters, or you're blind and deaf and dumb

And you're also not responsible

For what surely has to come

Some are dying of diseases, so we're proud that we're not ill

If we cannot push the button, it's not our fault bombs can kill

Though we never reach to help, we didn't make the stumbler fall

When our children feel the atom's kiss

We'll share no blame at all

We are not the heroes, all the words we say can never change it

We are not the heroes, rewrite history or rearrange it

We are not 'the white hats', they are not 'the black'

And none of us on either side can save our children

On the day that we attack