Only if

If I could I surely would:
release the children,
release the children!
Release the husbands and their wives
try to help them make new lives.
Then I’d release the single men
and help them make a start again.
The single women I’d free too
and help them make a life anew.
Release the children,
release the children!

What’s stopping me
you well may ask,
is it just too hard a task?
Why can’t we own
the shame we share?
Why can’t we show
a loving care?
Release the children,
release the children!

I would free each refugee,
in this land that’s girt by sea.
Share with them the boundless plain
and give them dignity again.
Build for all community,
justice and humanity,
put an end to misery,
and celebrate our liberty.
Release the children,
release the children!

All children have cried enough,
and single women died enough,
single men have sighed enough,
and the wives have tried enough,
fathers’ treatment has been rough
and our hearts have dried enough.
Now I fear our hearts might break,
let’s do it for the children’s sake.
Release the children,
release the children!

First published New Community Quarterly Vol.2, No.2 Winter 2004 p.6