Freedom at a Cost
With gallant demeanors and flags raised
With want of peace, but death standing just at bay
With conflict arisen in the streets
Tear-heavy eyes begin to leak
For war is something that is spoken of
As if it is something that us humans love
As if it is something that we just do
As if it is something we want to
Have in our society
Have over us like a black cloud
Hanging over our heads
Making a dark shroud
But there are men and women who understand
That war is not so plain and bland
War means death
Death for you
Death for your family
Death for your enemies
For your friends, too
Too late, though,
The flags have been raised
The guns have been brandished
And for a moment, you just gaze
For a moment, your opponents you study,
Appraise
For a moment, that lasts a millennia
You muster your strength,
Your love
Your hate
Love for the ideals you protect
And for the hate of black slaves
And as around you the shouting starts
The screaming begins
Screams that stab through your heart
Painfully ripping your conscience apart
You raise your weapon
Say a prayer
Hope to heaven
That what you’re fighting for won’t bring you to hell
Hope and pray
For the lives you will take
That they may know that it was your mistake
But your honor for giving them death
And so you let out a cry
Pull the trigger
Watch soldiers fall down
Like raindrops, but bigger
You see a crimson streak flash through the man you shot
Watch him fall, and you laugh because for a moment you thought
That this whole ordeal could be solved without bloodshed
Without the need for shooting off someone’s head
Because is the world really just black and white?
Why is there a need to fight?
As you think about this, passion inside you swells
Swells up and then pops in your heart as you hear bells
Bells ringing inside your head
Bells of pain as you fall to the ground where the dead
Lay, motionless, still like the air
That has formed in your lungs
And you scream in agony as you try to talk, shout, scream, do something
Something to make someone notice your pain
As you writhe on the ground, your body on fire
Your lungs burning up
Your mind growing tired
The pain in your stomach about to devour
Your figure, your body, you try to get up, but fall back again
Stuck
Stuck in a cycle of thoughts of death
Of the captivity of your fellow humans
And of your friends that are left
It isn’t right
It never was
Only now had the news started to buzz
Buzz like a bee to everywhere but the South
For the South had rejected the thought of letting the families
The many, many families subject to slavery
The South had rejected the thought of letting them free
But now, even though that man is dead
As well as the many others that fought in his stead
Today we remember him and his friends
And the many others who fought so that all men and women could be free
So that we could have true equality
So as we mourn the soldiers we’ve lost
Let us celebrate the brave people
Who gave freedom with a cost
With gallant demeanors and flags raised
With want of peace, but death standing just at bay
With conflict arisen in the streets
Tear-heavy eyes begin to leak
For war is something that is spoken of
As if it is something that us humans love
As if it is something that we just do
As if it is something we want to
Have in our society
Have over us like a black cloud
Hanging over our heads
Making a dark shroud
But there are men and women who understand
That war is not so plain and bland
War means death
Death for you
Death for your family
Death for your enemies
For your friends, too
Too late, though,
The flags have been raised
The guns have been brandished
And for a moment, you just gaze
For a moment, your opponents you study,
Appraise
For a moment, that lasts a millennia
You muster your strength,
Your love
Your hate
Love for the ideals you protect
And for the hate of black slaves
And as around you the shouting starts
The screaming begins
Screams that stab through your heart
Painfully ripping your conscience apart
You raise your weapon
Say a prayer
Hope to heaven
That what you’re fighting for won’t bring you to hell
Hope and pray
For the lives you will take
That they may know that it was your mistake
But your honor for giving them death
And so you let out a cry
Pull the trigger
Watch soldiers fall down
Like raindrops, but bigger
You see a crimson streak flash through the man you shot
Watch him fall, and you laugh because for a moment you thought
That this whole ordeal could be solved without bloodshed
Without the need for shooting off someone’s head
Because is the world really just black and white?
Why is there a need to fight?
As you think about this, passion inside you swells
Swells up and then pops in your heart as you hear bells
Bells ringing inside your head
Bells of pain as you fall to the ground where the dead
Lay, motionless, still like the air
That has formed in your lungs
And you scream in agony as you try to talk, shout, scream, do something
Something to make someone notice your pain
As you writhe on the ground, your body on fire
Your lungs burning up
Your mind growing tired
The pain in your stomach about to devour
Your figure, your body, you try to get up, but fall back again
Stuck
Stuck in a cycle of thoughts of death
Of the captivity of your fellow humans
And of your friends that are left
It isn’t right
It never was
Only now had the news started to buzz
Buzz like a bee to everywhere but the South
For the South had rejected the thought of letting the families
The many, many families subject to slavery
The South had rejected the thought of letting them free
But now, even though that man is dead
As well as the many others that fought in his stead
Today we remember him and his friends
And the many others who fought so that all men and women could be free
So that we could have true equality
So as we mourn the soldiers we’ve lost
Let us celebrate the brave people
Who gave freedom with a cost