Covert War Lyrics - David Wilcox

Dear Mom and Dad 

Here's why I can't come home 

I can talk with either one of you just fine 

When it's either one, alone 

But the Thanksgiving table 

Is going to be pulled out bigger 

If we talk at all 

One of you will pull the trigger 

I used to run those battle lines 

Trying to smooth over what got said 

Trying to get a medal 

Trying to get some shrapnel in my head 

Thought it was my duty 

To plead and to implore 

But I caught too much crossfire 

In your covert war 

Television talks fills the air 

So you don't have to start 

You claim your territories in the rooms upstairs 

To keep yourselves apart 

Holy days, they bring us all together 

After so much left unsaid 

You taught us well not to kick under the table 

Kick under your breath instead 

I used to stand between you 

Trying to smooth over what got said 

Trying to get a medal 

Trying to get some shrapnel in my head 

Thought it was my duty 

To plead and to implore 

But I caught too much crossfire 

In your covert war 

Of course there was the anger where the love is strong 

Spilled like gasoline 

It's crude but it's a power we can draw upon 

If it fuels the right machine 

I love you and I'd never want to see you bleed 

When comments cut like steel 

So to hold your fire I'd block the shot and take the hit for you 

As if I could not feel 

I thought they'd passed right through me 

And I had no scars to hide 

Now I open up and try to love 

And I find they're still inside 

'Cause I used to run those battle lines 

Trying to plead, to implore 

Please won't you hold the cease fire out a little longer 

Until the next uproar 

I took it all in childhood 

But I can't take it no more 

'Cause I caught too much crossfire 

In your covert war