Lyrics This War - Sting

This War

You’ve got the mouth of a she wolf
Inside the mask of an innocent lamb
You say your heart is all compassion
But there’s just a flat line on your cardiogram
Yet you always made a profit baby
If it was a famine or a feast
Yes, I’m the soul of indiscretion
I was cursed with x-ray vision
I could see right through all the lies you told
When you smiled for the television
And you can see the coming battle
You pray the drums will never cease
And you may win this war that’s coming
But would you tolerate the peace?
Investing in munitions
And those little cotton flags
Invest in wooden caskets
In guns and body bags, guns and body bags
Your daddy was a businessman
And it always made good sense
You know the war can make you rich my friend
In dollars, pounds and cents
In the temple that was Mammon’s
You were ordained the parish priest
Yes you may win this coming battle
But could you tolerate the peace?
Invest in deadly weapons
And those little cotton flags
Invest in wooden caskets
In guns and body bags
You’re invested in oppression
Investing in corruption
Invest in every tyranny
And the whole world’s destruction
I imagine there’s a future
When all the earthly wars are over
You may find yourself just standing there
On the white cliffs of Dover
You may ask, what does it profit a man
To gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?
Is that your body you see on the rocks below
As the tide begins to roll?
And you invested in this prison
From which you never got released
You may have won this war we’re fighting
But would you tolerate the peace?
There’s a war on our democracy
A war on our dissent
There’s a war inside religion
And what Jesus might have meant
There’s a war on mother nature
A war upon the seas
There’s a war upon the forests
On the birds and the bees
There’s a war on education
A war on information
A war between the sexes
And every nation
A war on our compassion
A war on understanding
A war on love and life itself
It’s war that they’re demanding
Make it easy on yourself
And don’t do nothing