David Rovics - Jenin lyrics

Oh, child, what will you remember When you recall your sixteenth year The horrid sound of helicopter gunships The rumble of the tanks as they drew near As the world went about it's business And I burned another tank of gasoline The Dow Jones lost a couple points that day While you were crying in the City of Jenin Did they even give your parents warning Before they blew the windows out with shells While you hid inside the high school basement Amidst the ringing of church bells As you watched your teacher crumble by the doorway And in England they were toasting to the Queen You were so far from the thoughts of so many Huddled in the City of Jenin Were you thinking of the taunting of the soldiers Or of the sh** they smeared upon the walls Were you thinking of your cousin after torture Or Tel Aviv and it's glittering shopping malls When the fat men in their mansions say that you don't want peace Did you wonder what they mean As you sat amidst the stench inside the darkness In the shattered City of Jenin What went through your mind on that day At the sight of your mother's vacant eyes As she lay still among the rubble Beneath the blue Middle Eastern skies As you stood upon this bulldozed building Beside the settlements and their hills so green As your tears gave way to grim determination Among the ruins of the City of Jenin And why should anybody wonder As you stepped on board The crowded bus across the Green Line And you reached inside your jacket for the cord Were you thinking of your neighbors buried bodies As you made the stage for this scene As you set off the explosives that were strapped around your waist Were you thinking of the City of Jenin