Brutal Lottery

Ten thousand children slipped into the cracks
Missing in action while we turned our backs
One less mouth to feed, mouth to feed
Ten thousand vultures swirling patiently
This nameless meat is unaccompanied
One less mouth to feed, mouth to feed
In this brutal lottery
There would be headlines, outcries
There would be a vigil every night
If the child was ours
If the child was white
If it was our child
Ten thousand children through our border passed
They couldn’t tell us and we never asked
Blissful apathy, apathy
Ten thousand reasons why you didn’t care
Someone is paid to do that work somewhere
Blissful apathy, apathy
Oh that brutal lottery
There would be headlines, outcries
There would be a vigil every night
If the child was ours
If the child was white
If it was our child
I heard a story several years ago
The bones of children from the famine boats
Washed up nameless on some foreign coast
Another century could have been you and me
In this brutal lottery
There would be headlines, outcries
There would be a vigil every night
If the child was ours
If the child was white
If it was our child
There would be milk cartons and fliers
There would be a show of public might
If the child was ours
If the child was white
If it was our child