From the grave,

Yo brother, what are you down here for?

We do look different but just as bad 

Was it painful for you or did it come fast?

Were you scared, did they tell you not to worry?

They said I was needed to save the world

They called me hero so Mom could be proud

Was it the same for you or did you know?

Did they wrap you in a flag and you bought it?

So many of us here now, so young and so dead

‘won’t hold our wives until they’re old

Was it worth it for you, ‘wasn’t for me

‘never wanted a medal…but to see my children grow

They told me my country was in danger, what did they tell you?

They told me the commies were coming after me

They said the bearded penguins of the east were all bad

The Japs and the Chinese were coming to claim our land

Now the friends are foes and the foes are heroes

And here we are clamoring without a voice

From behind a granite wall where our names carved so well

Man, they fed us some beautiful lines!

We were just the punching gloves protecting those fragile hands

That held the mighty pens that signed our final sentence

by Karim Kadiri