ringing ears
running fast

             silver bells
             silver bells

broken door
speckled grass

             it’s christmas time
             in the city

arab spring
stinging air

             ring-a-ling
             hear them sing

rubber bullets
clotted hair

             children laughing
             people passing

burning tire
siren blast

             and above all this
             bustle you’ll hear

steel shell
rebel yell

             silver bells
             silver bells

silver bells


                    silver


                            ­   bells

a song for the innocents
living in the trees
swinging from branches
limp as puppets in the breeze

the white rider
a blessing and a simple prayer
give em up to heaven
but first, tie an anchor to their feet

a song for the daughter
listed as a casualty
a bomb while she was sleeping
hit her home and blew her into three

a song for the father
who told them that he wouldn’t leave
he left on a stretcher
with bruises and a bullet in his knee

the white rider
a blessing a simple prayer
he’s looking up to heaven
but you know he’s at the devil’s feet

we're looking up to heaven
but you know we're at the devil's feet

the vulture grins at a boy with a stone
he’s been watching since before i was here
and the soldier cried when his daughter was born
he says he cried both from love and from fear
and the fair skinned man who sold him a gun
says "i’ve got better things to do than be here
when the smoke all clears there will only be one
and i’ll be laughing at a bar with a beer.”