Not only did the goldfish know jujitsu
The cat knows taekwondo
Roaches are kickboxers
The dove above the kitchen window
Are extreme fighters: no gloves, no shoes
They bleed;

I seen 'em from my shell-shock wheelchair
Next to my co-combatant
Holding hands, we are on a hospital ship
And it will be a long cruise

Let me go back to the beginning
In a trench
Probably me that lit the cigarette
That gave me away
And then the ensuing barrage

Four hundred guns for every mile
Fanatical commander's yelling "fire"
For me the end of the bed,
Duck around the crib, the kitchen table
Behind the couch...

Domestic bliss!
Tra la la la la!
Domestic bliss!
La la la la la!

Imagine Sarajevo and Beirut
Both burning in the same two bedrooms
Claymores around the pots and pans
Punji stakes on each side of the bathroom(?)

And it's a machine gun alley run each morning
To the sink, brush teeth, think what not to say
In order to make it in one piece that day

And it's just the two of us like malevolent tribes
More the European kind, too much comfort
But indulging in the loss of lives
And like all conflict, civilians are the children
Parents are the villains
No matter if it's a square meter flat
Or nation stating the intimacy of violence.

Throwing tantrums like soldiers throw grenades
Me and wife struggle to shed the children inside us
Frantic
'Cause the child we made is rightfully out of patience
He has no use for Arc Lights, air strikes
He needs applesauce and boobs
He needs a stress-catcher for a dad, as does mama
So assume the positions

No the sex wasn't even written in the dossier
Long gone in the echo of propaganda
That started the whole campaign:
Get married, eat good food
Have great sex whenever you want the poster said;
Change diapers
Wipe snot while in raw, subconscious, spinal-tapping
Arguments is what we got instead

No shit! Roll up the sleeves and work it out, battle it out
through snap words and grouch:
"Oh my God you hate my mom!"
"Oh my God I'm not as strong as you thought!"
"Building pillars, give me time to build!"
"We are two pillars about to give!"
"Grab the kid!"
"Was that you that left the bomb in the microwave or me?"
"Duck and cover 'cause the blast is comin' down in showers
and no more helicopter's on the roof!"

The dust settles
Martin is still here
He has claimed the space between us
And helped us decide our place

Just below the black smoke clouds, there is a patch of blue
And our second child shows up, like a prophet or guru...
That's too much weight.
More likely, me and wifey cleared our plates of mess and I'm
Brushing off sand from the sandbox in 1973
Throwing out the Tonka truck with cutting rusted sides

And wife has wiped up all the spilt milk
And her mother's stains of wine
We look around and see we are in one piece
Two beautiful kids, official;

And yes, this is as good as it gets, amid the massive sea
There is nothing left to cling to but each other, as they say
So we do
And home feels as good as it ever will
This time before
And we will make it here
As good as any spot where dystopic and bucolic meet.

And the goldfish and the cat
Are still trained for combat
Everyone knows where to run for cover
But we all know
That wars and battles end
With luck, and love, and labor

We can forgive, not forget,
and remain.