Hello, Baghdad

 

I am the prince of the burning shores

Selling the promise of virgins and whores

Of war, filth and disease

Bringing humanity to its knees

 

Keep manipulating

Still anticipating

Stop for a moment

Miles more to go

 

Beg, steal or borrow

Kill like there's no tomorrow

Hello, Baghdad

Welcome to the show

 

I am the chairman of the board

Selling my soul as a corporate whore

My world is power and greed

Blood and oil my commodities

 

 

Democracy

 

The time has come to scorch the earth

And to start again clean

Bend the people to our will

With propaganda machines

 

Reconstruct the heirarchy

Revolution starts right here

Nihilistic anarchy

Obedience acheived through fear

 

This is our democracy

It's one for you and two for me

Trust in us, we know what's best

Violence and civil unrest

 

Infiltrate the battle zone

Lost soldiers coming home

Be a king or be a slave

Honor lies in an unmarked grave

 

Every man must choose his path

Will you fight or will you run?

It's us or them, just do the math

Stand up and be someone!

 

Just something you should understand

Before you come to invade my home

Justice stings like the back of my hand

So you better not come alone

 

 

Killing Fields

 

This war is a lie

Judge the righteous from their place on high

But I wonder who they'd blame

If their ivory towers were set aflame

 

And how did it seem

To watch 9/11 on a tv screen?

While we lived through it

City's burning in a fiery pit

 

We march across the killing fields

We set the laws with swords and shield

Our funeral pyres light up the sky

We send our children off to die

 

Treacherous paths we walk alone

Our hands and hearts have turned to stone

These are the chances that we take

The sacrifices we must make

 

Now a shaky hand

Brings the news from a far off land

This man, they cut him down

Spilled his blood on foreign ground

 

His loss should be a sign

Of valor to those left behind

The end, the letter read

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but your son is dead"

Vengeance

 

Swirling all around you

Are the rumors people spread

Vicious lies that terrorize

And fill their swollen heads

 

They hide behind computer screens

Planning their attack

Smiling eyes disguise their lies

To stab you in the back

 

Don't back down

This is everything you've waited for

Stand your ground

And take what you deserve from life

 

Don't back down

This could be your last chance

Stand your ground

You gotta get up and fight

 

They'll tear you down to elevate

Themselves at any cost

Criticize, jeopardize

And celebrate your loss

 

When someone disrespects you

You don't have to turn away

A loaded fist, a rusty blade

Can help you dull the pain

 

 

Momentum

 

The world sags beneath our weight

Parasites, we suck it dry

Like rats lost in a maze

Stupid creatures born to die

 

There is no destiny

No higher hand of fate

No place in history

Just eternity to waste

 

We collide

Then break away

Our lives

Are just momentum

We attract

Because we can't

Turn back

It's all for nothing

 

Search for meaning from above

Assemble random events

To support the myth of life

It's just cause and effect

 

We turn our backs on reason

Deny our inevitable ends

Narcissistic hypocrites

It's our last defense

 

 

Emotion

 

Sun, throw shadows cross the floor

That leak into my soul

Blackness tossed against the wall

The room feels so cold

 

The alibis you gave

Were promises in vain

Echoes of impermanence

Voices from the grave

 

Tell me what it's for

All this emotion

When you walk out the door

Why should I follow?

 

You've been playing games

With my emotions

Turn and walk away

You leave me hollow

 

Warmth, cascading over me

A puppet for your strings

A mound of flesh on which you feed

Satiated

Forsaken

 

I heard your name the other day

And it cut me like a blade

I guess that time cannot heal every wound

Some memories never fade

 

I wish that we could just get back in line

And pick up where we left off

But once you lose your grip on time

You blink, and then it's gone

 

I thought these tears were gone

Now look what you have done

A moment out of time

When you left me behind

 

I feel like I could drown

Get lost and never found

I'm drifting out to sea

Why have you forsaken me?

 

I don't recall all the roads I took

Or the streets that I have roamed

But I'd trade them all for just another look

At the faces I once called home

 

All the years it took to build these walls

Stone by stone and brick by brick

Could not prepare me for the fall

Or the pain that I'd inflict

 

 

Not the World I Remember

 

There is a feeling I can't hide

It leaves me bored and black inside

There was a story I once knew

It started with me and ended with you

 

Somebody tell me

Where did we go wrong

This is not the world that I remember

I once believed

That we had a future

Now I'm afraid that I am not so sure

 

So this allegory for life

Predicts that passion turn to strife

You say what you get is what you see

I'm sorry if I disagree

 

 

Dream for Tomorow

 

Lost in the depths of your hapless facade

Your pious contempt brings you closer to God

Judgement and sentence the company you keep

Bitter resentment that rocks you to sleep

 

Life is a game that you know you can't win

Envy and hate feed the demons within

Try to deny what you don't want to hear

The truth isn't easy when you live in fear

 

I am the guilt living deep in your soul

I am the voice that you hear in your head

I am the weakness you cannot control

I am the reason you wish you were dead

 

Is it so simple to deny yourself these things?

How does it feel to be slipping away?

Warm in the comfort that darkness will bring

Where you dream for tomorrow what you lost today

 

Intense isolation is all that you know

Sorrow and sickness, you reap what you sow

Alone with your demons you pray for the end

Dreams of tomorrow as darkness descends

 

 

The Heart of America

 

We take our orders from the evening news

Paper dolls with political views

Find religion on the radio

The more you listen, the more you know

 

Sell the lie in a new pop song

No one questions as they sing along

Keep the pigs happy in the shit

Pick a side and bend the truth to fit

 

The grass is green and the skies are blue

And they're saying grace in the heart of America

Your mind's wiped clean when they come for you

And they lie to your face when you live in America

 

We are the tools of the government

Tiny pawns, we are all for rent

Here to hail the dictator in chief

Freedom fighters and world police

 

Put the blame on the generals

When politicians act like criminals

Arm the troops, then tie their hands

Plausible denial to retain command