"Paying for War" - a song of cynical levity

Paying for War

From Lexington to Concord to Yorktown, I pitched in;
My taxes for my country - we never called it sin.
Taxes went for Sherman's march, at Gettysburg for guns,
For armies and battalions, for forts and garrisons!

I paid to steal the land from the natives years ago;
My taxes went for war on the land of Mexico;
I paid for ships with guns to fight across the seas;
Make war against the Spanish, the Philippines to seize!

I pledged my firm allegiance to flag and country too;
My taxes helped pay for World War I as well as World War II;
Nagasaki vaporized and Hiroshima too;
I paid for atomic bombs and planes on which they flew!

Korea asked for taxes and also Vietnam;
And so I sent my taxes for the blood of the lamb;
And blood there was aplenty carpet bombing Laos;
But still I paid my taxes and never raised a fuss!

The cold war was expensive, my war tax did increase;
I paid them without protest, and said a prayer for peace;
Our first-strike Trident missiles, they kept me safe, you know;
I gladly paid for "star wars" - the Bible* tells me so!

My country keeps on calling for billions for Iraq;
To bomb Iraqi people and let our troops attack;
It's shock and awe, forever, instead of brotherhood**;
We must pay our war taxes, as every Christian*** should!

Poem copyright by David Ortman, 2007
Music copyright by J. Harold Moyer, 2007

*Substitute Qur'an, etc.
**Substitute sisterhood, etc
***Substitute Buddhist, Muslim, etc.