Pacifist's Lament

There's many ways to say you're sorry
Home from work, buy some flowers
Wash, dry, put the dishes away

There's a gentle way
For a hand to touch a hand
For a cup of tea to be delivered to a nightstand
For a light to be left on, to light someone's way

But there is nothing harder than to stop
In the middle of a battle and say you're sorry

But we ask it of our children to just stop
In the middle of a battle and say you're sorry

Which one of us is ready to just stop?

There's many ways, to see my fears
Don't it seem hindsight is always the clearest?
When the fighters and the flighters have gone back to their primeval gaze

You can try to undo what conditioning created
You can go to India and sit cross legged
You can walk to the ocean and drown yourself in the waves

But there is nothing harder than to stop
In the middle of a battle and say you're sorry

But we ask it of our children to just stop
In the middle of a battle and say you're sorry

Which one of us is ready to just stop?

If I had a school, I would teach Gandhi
And Dr King, and Aung San Suu Kyi
I'd teach techniques of non-violence as part of the core

'Cause any kid can add two and two
If you show them a path to the truth
Monkey see, monkey do. That is [?]

But there is nothing harder than to stop
In the middle of a battle and say you're sorry

But we ask it of our children to just stop
In the middle of a battle and say you're sorry

Which one of us is ready to just stop?