News For The Deaf
A man in a field with his arms round a child,
Bleeds for the camera on the news for the deaf
Hurricane flattens the last of the spirit
Of a Honduran village with the last of it’s breath
I could just sit here and watch this all day
It’s still in my head when I sleep
I couldn’t let this pass without comment
I love to have something to say
I look at the hundreds of thousands of faces
Marching through Africa, running away
Starving or broken or grieving or all of them,
Trying to sit still, trying to stay
I haven’t got time to sit down with all of them,
I’m not a hero, I won’t be blessed
I’ll probably sit here feeling it silently,
Pinned to the couch by the news for the deaf
And the hands spin before me
And the pictures fill the screen
And though I cannot hear a word
I do know what they mean
And if they had a voice to say
What life is like in fear
No matter how I try and try
I just can’t seem to hear
A man in a hat with a key to the door
Is dragging me off to the cells
Punishing me for the way I do nothing,
Locking me into my personal hell
Moralisation, taking the blame,
Did I really do this to you?
How can I father the world that I want
How can I make it come true
I’m taking it in and I’m sending it home
When I’m crying for change
Am I wasting my breath
It’s happening, filmed, recorded, presented
In a box with a ribbon, news for the deaf
Millions of images, somebody sort them
Wide screen vision, news for the deaf
Somebody’s neck’s on the line in a warzone
Is it my brother on the news for the deaf?
I’m wringing my hands coz I can’t get through
To think that there’s people with nothing to do