I am not at war

On a plane from Rome to Amsterdam
In a brown café, outside Geneva, with my arms around my brother
he doesn't really speak my language
with his honey skin and raven hair
but I want inside of something and I think that he can take me there

In a bar just north of London
some kid who doesn't like my accent
who doesn't ask my name
hears me ordering and says he's seen my kind before

but I am not at war, I am not at war

things are breaking down in Baghdad
things are breaking down in Tel Aviv
everybody's telling stories and the silence here is deafening
we pretend that we're just killing time
we pretend those aren't our children dead in Palestine
we pretend they aren't killing them on our dime

so we build a wall around the poor
we think no one will notice we don't build a door
don't tell me that ten-year-old is evil cause he's throwing stones
at the tanks rolling over his home

cause I am not at war, I am not at war
no, I am not at war, I am not at war

where I grew up there's a voice that never sleeps
insisting we believe that there will never be enough
and those that got left behind, it's not our fault,
they just couldn't keep up

they've made it all the same to buy or steal
they take your hands and tie them to a kind of wheel
that spins just because it cannot stop
but there are people here who are trying to get off

cause the part that they won't let you see
is that it would all fall down around their feet
in any kind of real democracy
if it were up to everyone and everyone's family

cause I am not at war, and you are not at war - we are not at war
I am not at war, and you are not at war - we are not at war