Henri Reynard Speaks Out

Go Out to War my Daughters and Sons

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Go out to war now my daughters and sons
And come ye back maimed and withered in fear
My dealers provide you the drug of your choice
To teach you my mercy and quiet your voice

Go out to fight now my daughters and sons
And leave you behind all your children so fair
I shall always guide them and grow them up tall
Until I need them then they too shall fall

Go out to the world where my riches lie
I'll trade you for them wherever you die
The gold leaf for my statues and the oil for my flames
Shall be your price and the power of your names

The small plastic toys the garments so rich
Shall be your price as you lie in that ditch
And all of our leaders shall brazenly cry
And speak of your glory while you bleed and die

Go out to war now my hopeful my poor
The world yields its secrets and opens its door
To those who have served me to those who are bold
They will live on my streets in the bitterest cold

Go out to war now my children my fair
What there awaits you is losing your share
What there awaits you is no more or no less
Then all of those others my ministers bless

Some of you will prosper some of you will gain
It will sometimes be those who have suffered the pain
Some of your families will grow rich and strong
Full of the power that is spoken in song

They are oft not warriors, oft not the brave
Those fortunate ones who connections could save
We remove all the trouble of dying too soon
Before they could claim their inherited boon

Go out to war now my children who dream
And learn all about how the wounded ones scream
How the burned ones will whimper and the broken ones moan
Learn every emotion that they put in the tone
Of their final words shouted of their last sounds sighed
And try and give meaning to the way that they died

I was once a Republic that served you so well
And you served my name, now I am but a shell
Wrapped around Empire, exuding its slime
The Republic knew justice, the Empire hates crime

I stood tall and spoke of the meaning of Man
Now I stammer and stutter and do what I can
To convince all my critics that I am what I was
When real truth and justice were my honored cause

When I fought to stop evil and I knew why I fought
And I made no excuses for the pain that it brought
I knew I was strong then, so full of the might
That tempered my heroes and won them their fight
To make the world better and then to retire
And live in their castles and tend to their fire

Now all of my legions are marching toward battles
They suborn your values, and make men your chattels
Now the ashes of freedom are bourne on my breeze
And the triumph of power is the triumph of sleaze
To lie about causes, denying they lied
We inflame all our victims where thousands have died
And terrorists now are the roles for the lives
Of men who lost children and mothers and wives

We make our excuses and tell about how
Democracy's growing in conquered lands now
But leaders appointed with power and might
Cannot lead their land toward our torches light
While blood is still flowing from wounds that they bear
And anger and hatred is all that they share

The warlords are winning north of Kabul
The children are dying and the women are dull
With the pain of their losses and the loss of their hope
On Manifest Destiny's slippery slope
The power is broken that we went to kill
But the poppy is growing and flourishing still

Iraq is preparing to vote in the spring
But with all our troops there will it mean a thing?
Democracy's service requires more than votes
The factions are stirring and all have their quotes

The Shiites seek power the Sunnis would hold
The Kurds are all armed and grow ever more bold
The Jews and the Christians are fearful and quiet
And the starvelings of Sadir are ready to riot

We're building our pillars on swift flowing sand
We cannot inspire where we can command
The outcome is certain if the timing is not
The new government there is certain to rot

We'll have spent all our billions enriching a few
But of any benefits we've not a clue
Yet we will continue until we have learned
That our constitution is what we have burned

And the folly of policy measured in barrels
Will never suffice for the widows apparels
Remembering how we came to this place
Is far more important than just saving face

We fought against empire, barely, we won
Our revolution was fought with a gun
But the minds that defeated that empire's goals
Changed for all time the common man's roles

In two hundred thirty since our fight began
We've added the vote to the progress of Man
Remembering those times we'll use them to guide
The hope of our future will not be denied
The power of people will work for what's right
The power of our people again will take flight
And we will find justice and we will find truth
And we will be scant with the lives of our youth
Our wars of preemption will soon disappear
And we will find strength where now we find fear
The future is there well within our strong grasp
The treasure is unlocked we just lift the hasp
And open the chest of our creative power
And we can again have our finest hour

Not with guns or bombers or massive great ships
But with the true words out of patriot's lips
Not falsely played promises prettily planned
But real faith in our laws and what they command
Not power alone nor the spirit of oppression
But the honor of respect and the gift of progression
From each in its time to each in its place
We'll put a true smile on liberty's face
Not all of our own greed shall defeat her
As long as we honor her each time we greet her

Come back from this war my daughters and sons
And join all the workers and fortunate ones
We'll work for you here and bring joy to your life
Come home, take each other for husband and wife
Come raise all your children and share in their beauty
Come live in the fact that you've all done your duty
We'll help make a world where your lives are secure
We'll work out the problems and never demure
When the solutions are not complete answers
Instead of just soldiers we'll try and use dancers
If common solutions cannot be found
We'll just work on trading, that's not too profound

The power of armies is limited ever
To what we aspire and how we endeavor
To change all the minds of those we oppose
And hundred year wars are stupidity froze

The world is a place where we will not find peace
In doctrinaire folly or weapons release
We will fight if we're challenged of that there's no doubt
But we must not forget what the fighting's about

We must never lie to ourselves in our need
To deny we have folly or deny human greed
It is in reality securely grounded
That the greatest of truths are so simply founded

"We hold these truths to be self evident"
Is not confusing or complexly meant
Freedom is ours, each must fight for their own
It cannot be given, the will must be grown
Sometimes oppression will water its seed
Sometimes brutality sometimes just greed
We cannot create a true western democracy
In a land where the people want a theocracy
We can't export justice or our constitution
But we can defend them against revolution

The Empire's here and it's seeking our power
It will crush our Republic if we give it this hour
Only the people hold onto our freedom
Only the lies and their fear can defeat them
The ones who think Empire will serve our nation
Have forgotten how powerful was the creation
Of our great Republic and our laws that guide it
We will not have Empire standing astride it

So come all of my children stand up for your rights
They have lifted so many up to the heights
They have nurtured such power, created such wealth
Don't let an Empire take it by stealth.
Stand up for your lives stand up for your history
It isn't a crime and it isn't a mystery
Stand up! Speak out! Live, Vote and be jolly!
Our constitution replaced any emperor's folly!
Liberty is not negotiable here!
Hold on to the truths that we bought so dear!
It is in the world that our children will own
That our honor or shame will be finally shown!

Finally come home my daughters and sons
Finally remove those "fortunate ones"
Who till the land lightly and claim all its worth
Replace them with ones that will value our earth
Repair our finances, vitalize learning
Help us all pay the blood debt we're earning
We have a great work to do for our nation
Come home and lead us and take up your station
As patriots honored as our sons and daughters
We can lead the world and dispense with the slaughters
We can teach them freedom, we cannot bestow it
Those who will want it must always first show it
By seeking to offer it to all their neighbors
And seeking to build it through all of their labors

Beloved my children beloved my land
Come home and join us come take our hand
Come home to tasks that will fill all your days
Come home to love and its myriad ways
Of filling your heart and filling your spirit
Embrace it and hold it and nevermore fear it
Our future awaits us as grand as our past
Come home and make certain our nation will last.

We need all your power, we need all your strength
We need all your lives and all of their length
Fighting this war cannot replace you
Leaving this battle will never disgrace you
Come home my children come home to your lives
Come home and embrace your husbands and wives

Yet from our leaders there is sullen silence
This trap of their making has always lacked sense
They want all the oil to keep the wheels turning
They cannot conceive of what it is burning
It's our constitution they've fed to this flame
No fire will consume it to their final shame
We can replace oil, we need all our babies
Far more than we need a few leaders with rabies

So let us all stand and cry out to each other
We all can live just like sister and brother
Loving and fighting and squabbling ever
And working supporting each other's endeavor
Let's stop the dying and bring them home quickly
And give all the world the oil and slickly
Replace it with coal, replace it with wind
Leave all the stupid sad violence behind
Let the Imams lead those who want their own nation
Let's sacrifice something, let us not ration
Out lives of our children to save an old order
Let's find our energy inside our own border

Come home my lovely young daughters and sons
Come home and replace those "fortunate ones"