Lyrics Pacifist's Lament - Ani DiFranco

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 him a path to the truth
Monkey see, monkey do.
That is the score
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?