Gaza Librarian

Описание: This song was written for a Skirmish on FAWM (February Album Writing Month). The prompt offered by the host of the challenge was "Collapsing Library". I immediately thought of Gaza and the intense bombing it has suffered. Surely a library must be among the buildings destroyed. So I came up with a Librarian who learns the fate of his place of work.

CHORDS & LYRICS (Capo 5 for Guitarists)

(Am) The bombing stopped briefly at (F) 6am
We e(C)merged to see (G) what could be (Am) seen
The hospital had been (F) hit once again
But we were (C) used to that (G) awful (Am) scene
As we (C) helped to clear the (G) rubble
Someone (Am) asked if my name was Aa(G)meen
"Ah (Am) so you are the li(F)brarian!
I have (C) news on which (G) you won't be (Am) keen"

(Am) "The library last night took a (F) direct hit
I'm af(C)raid it's a(G)bout to col(Am)lapse!"
The news could not have (F) hurt me more
If you'd (C) chopped off my (G) head with an (Am) axe
It (C) wasn't that my job had (G) surely gone
In (Am) Gaza you have to face (G) facts
But the bar(Am)barity of bombing a (F) library
Is (C) more than just (G) a savage (Am) act

Our (Em) store of knowledge (Am) lies in books
A con(Em)nection with those gone be(Am)fore
Irre(Em)placeable precious (Am) manuscripts
Are now (F) victims of this (G) terrible (Am) war
 
(Am) Picking my way through (F) debris filled streets
I (C) saw it all (G) with my own (Am) eyes
Half-burned papers (F) scattered about
It's (C) civiliz(G)ation's de(Am)mise
What (C) knowledge now is for(G)ever lost
Our op(Am)pressors once more I de(G)spised
Their (Am) self-defence, the ex(F)cuse for all this,
Is but a (C) land grab (G) in dis(Am)guise

CHORUS

(Am) I watched as pages blew (F) off in the wind
My (C) tears I could (G) no longer (Am) hide
I had loved my books, like I (F) loved my life
It was a (C) sight I (G) could not a(Am)bide
A (C) tremor shook me as the (G) next bombs fell
And I (Am) hurried back in(G)side
(Am) Cursing a world that re(F)fuses to condemn
This (C) clear (G) cut (G) geno(Am)cide (repeat last couplet)