[Intro] [Finger snaps Slow and lazy] [Soft bongos enter Heartbeat-close] War Man We dress it up in Latin Jus ad bellum Jus in bello Letters looping like cigarette smoke Over guilty glasses [Verse 1] They say Right cause Right intention Like you can iron a wrinkle Out of a cratered field Proportional They whisper As if you can measure burned cities In neat little fractions Last resort Baby (she purrs, low, close to the mic) Last resort After the boys in suits Run out of synonyms for “escalate” And the maps get red Then redder Then ash [Chorus] This is your catechism in cinders Ethics in a mushroom cloud dress Snap your fingers To the fallout Tell me Is it “just” If we say it slow enough? (just… just… just…) [Verse 2] Discrimination He says Adjusting his tie Only the guilty Only the targets Only the nodes and hubs and hearts As if heat Reads footnotes As if blast Checks passports at the border She laughs Low A velvet danger Oh lover How precise is your fire When it peels the paint Off unborn names? How clean is your conscience When the night glows noon? [Chorus] This is your catechism in cinders Ethics in a mushroom cloud dress Snap your fingers To the fallout Tell me Is it “just” If we say it slow enough? (just… just… just…) [Bridge] [Snaps tighten into a steady clave Bongos more insistent] Double effect He mutters Eyes on the floorboards Good aimed here Harm There Unwanted Unintended Like a side chick of destruction She leans in Breath on the mic So if your hand Never meant my skin Why is my shadow Burned into the brick? If your heart Never aimed at my breath Why is the air Learning how to scream? [Verse 3] Humane use They plead Limited Tactical Tidy Like a razor in a velvet box Drop it low They say Small yield They say As if scale Shrinks sin As if a shorter shadow Sleeps easier He counts on his fingers Necessity Proportionality Distinction All the beads on a rosary Of radius and heat But the beads run out Before the blast does And the prayer Sticks in his throat [Chorus] This is your catechism in cinders Ethics in a mushroom cloud dress Snap your fingers To the fallout Tell me Is it “just” If we say it slow enough? (just… just… just…) [Outro] [Only snaps now Distant sax sighing] She coos Sweet soldier Write your reasons On my bare back Let the ink drip Like sirens He whispers back If every rule Still ends in ruins Maybe the answer Is silence [Snaps stop One last soft bongo hit Fade to breath]
