I learned to shoot
Before I could write
Before I could read
I learned to fight
I was taught to kill
Before I was nine
My favourite toy was…
An anti tank mine.

I wish I had learned
To read and to write
I wish I had learned
To love and not fight
To heal and not kill
Those visions of terror
Awaken me still

I need to do something
Before it’s too late
I have to do something
To destroy this hate
Is this education
Really my lot?
I can’t write the names
Of the people I shot.