Judgement Days

Now the agencies that be
Flew in yesterday at three
They say the other nations are starting to deploy
We need all of your finest boys
And the townsfolk are tearing down their businesses
We've coloured them completely red
They're even taking all of our prisoners
They respect any man when he's dead
This place used to feel right
You could hear yourself dream at night
In the usual quiet of Littleschurch
Come New Years Eve there'll be no more fireworks

And where is the good in this place?
Judgement days

My friend Thomas was taken away
Where they kept him in a holding bay
Gave him a gun and trained him good
Just shoot at anything you think you should
While Preacher Robinson's congregation
Of Sunday choir men and women
Are wedged between an ultimatum
Of all their prayers can and cannot give them
The school buses have now been used
To carry all the children out
The sergeant was strangely amused
At the content of their whereabouts

Childhood is so far away
Judgement days

All the mothers and fathers are waging battle
Taking arms against green plastic toys
The deafening sound of the Reaper's rattle
Hums so loud while we weep for our boys
Lately I've been using cups and string
To send messages to the neighbours
When the artillery breaks I can hear them sing
We help each other by exchanging favours
I saw last week their youngest daughter
Bobbing and weaving under martial law
She said past the wall what she heard and saw
Were the howling winds on the crimson sheets of water

She won't ever forget that place
Judgement days

For those of us not wanted for civilisation wanton destruction
Too old, too young or too soft
Our underground revolution is under construction
Words against weapons we work with what we've got
But I saw Thomas a year later in the gutter
He said "There's no war, haven't you heard?"
"I've been living so long in violent clutter
Please shush with your weapons and put down your words."
Time is a painter of a hundred different faces
The winters get shorter and by the summers are replaced

And I'm ready now to fade
Judgement days

The government is camping out
Hiding from some scary creature
When I showed up the lights were out
I turned them on to find a history teacher
This place used to sleep at night
And wave hello in the sunny morning
It's all rubble since the Devil's bite
And I've never seen the Devil yawning
God's on the sofa watching tv
He lost his hearing a long time ago
The past few years have been eerie
Guess it's time now for him to go

Hang your head in shame
Judgement days