Every fifteen minutes somewhere
In a burnt out village somewhere
There'll be a flash against the sky
Another homeless farmer somewhere
Stumbles on a mine
And for every one survivor two will die
Pastures of plenty now are sown
with destruction
Growing only uncertainty and fear
Lethal reminders of a never ending war
Taking lifetimes of misery to clear
For the mines have been planted like
Bad seed in the ground
Deadly silent sentinels that wait without a sound
The legacy of conflict indiscriminate and wild
And they know no distinction
Be it soldier be it child
So scream your disapproval with every angry breath
And fight to put an end to all these
Gardens of death
Who will remove them when the fighting is over
What could the price of peace be worth
How can we talk of turning swords into ploughshares
When countless million mines infest the earth
Young fingers playing find them bright and attractive
Made of plastic like a friendly coloured toy
Another generation learns to live without a limb
For these are the tactics they employ
For the mines have been planted
like
Bad seed in the ground
Deadly silent sentinels that wait without a sound
The legacy of conflict indiscriminate and wild
And they know no distinction
Be it soldier mother child
So scream your disapproval with every angry breath
And fight to put an end to all these
Gardens of death
Who are the companies that profit from this slaughter
Who are the people they employ
What drives a person to invent a smarter way
Of making more efficient methods to destroy
Who are the countries now that still refuse to ban them
But wear their good intentions like a mask
Who are the parties in this shameless pollution
These are the questions we must ask
For the mines are still planted
In their millions every year
Barely detectable impossible to clear
Sprayed across the countryside landing where they will
Denying future access always waiting for the kill
So scream your disapproval with every angry breath
So the world can put an end to all these
Gardens of death
Every fifteen minutes somewhere
Every fifteen minutes somewhere
Every fifteen minutes
Notes
Many thanks to Bernard Carney for permission to add this song to the
Union Songs collection.
This song won the West Australian Music industry
songwriting award in 1995
and
has
subsequently
been coupled
with landmine
images
from around
the world taken by Melbourne photographer John Rodsted and made into
a five minute video by the International Red Cross in Geneva entitled "Shattered
Lives".
The Australian Red Cross have also made the song into a CD single together
with
a Greg Arnold song "They colour in the Landmines".
The song is also
on the Bernard Carney & Peter Grayling CD " No Time Like The Future"
This song won the West Australian Music industry
songwriting award in 1995
and
has
subsequently
been coupled
with landmine
images
from around
the world taken by Melbourne photographer John Rodsted and made into
a five minute video by the International Red Cross in Geneva entitled "Shattered
Lives".