Face to Face
For Callum, because he loves rhyme.

Face to face the people stand

With declarations in their hands

The battle’s ready to be won

As man to man hands down his gun

The middle-men prepare themselves

To witness every kind of hell

You’d think that they would curb their rage

But they’ve all read a different page

That urges them to fight the rest

Until the living are possessed

With headless rage and heartless fight

We’re lucky to live out the night

The fields of green dissolve in smoke

The violence makes the people choke

But still the people stand and face

With regiments of different race

And still the people stay their ground

The ticking clock has been rewound

And words are waved about like flags

Redemption hides in paper bags

And while the battle rages on

A few of us break out in song

And for a moment save ourselves

From this specific living hell

But notes alone cannot redeem

The human follies we have seen

And only when we start to shout

All hope of rescue peters out

The blunter edge of sharpened blades

Disperses light in ghastly shades

 We cannot live with this pretence

This clumsy lack of common sense

But whilst they’re standing face to face

There’ll be no turn form this disgrace

As face to face the people stand

The blood shines brightly in their hands.