Bloodsports

There are boxes packed with bullets, there are crates all stacked with boxes
 There are uniforms and hardware, there are meals all wrapped in plastic
 Through the night the ships are loading, every night these ships are loading
 Beneath the glare of the burning floodlights and the dancing of the swarmed mosquitoes
 And into the fire and the blood red sun the old and rich still send the young men
 Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of metal burning
 And on the streets of hometown now, we watch each other as if we're strangers
 But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war
 He says: this body I have been given shall be returned unto its maker
 Beneath my clothes these secrets hidden, the sacrifice that I have to offer
 By the checkpoint there are soldiers and the cypress branches waving
 And the light is hard as glass and the sky is blue and cool and waiting
 And into the fire and the blood red sun the old and rich still send the young men
 Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of metal burning
 And on the streets of hometown now, we watch each other as if we're strangers
 But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war
 These stupid empty words could all be written on the cold pale skin
 Of the dead laid out in shallow graves along the road of bombed out palm trees
 And in the corners of the bars and cafes, in every town, in every nation
 There are these blood-sports on the TVs and the loaded toneless voices
 There are cameras by the gravesides and in the executioners' chambers
 There are cameras high above us to guide the missiles down from the heavens
 And into the fire and the blood red sun the old and rich still send the young men
 Into a world of twisted steel and the acrid smell of oil burning
 And on the streets of hometown now, we watch each other just like strangers
 But say it loud, scream it loud: I am not at war