You want to strike back and you can't
And you want to help but you can't
And the gun won't shoot
And the dynamite won't explode
And the wind is blowing the other way
And no one can hear you
And death is everywhere
And you're dying anyhow
And you're tired of the war
And you can't explain one more time

You can't explain anymore
And you're stuck behind your house
Like an old rusted truck
That will never haul another load

And you're not leading your life
You're leading someone else's life
Someone you don't know or like
And it's ending soon
And it's too late to begin again
Armed with what you know now

And all your stupid charities
Have armed the poor against you
And you're not who you wanted to be
Not remotely he or she
How am I going to get out of this
The untidy mess the untidiness
Never to be clean again or free
Soiled by gossip and publicity
You're tired and it's over
And you can't do any more
That's what this silence
That's what this song is for

And you can't explain anymore
And you can't dig in
Because the surface is like steel
And all your fine emotions
Your subtle insights
Your famous understanding
Evaporate into stunning
(To you) irrelevance

I don't remember when
I wrote this
It was long before 9/11