Civilians get hurt and sometimes even killed but that is always the fortunes of war
The new casualty list is now being filled and we hope there will not be much more
This conflict should have been done with by now yet it still lingers on day by day
We can’t see the end or the who, why, and how, It seems answers are too far away

No one now really knows what started the war and it seems that there’s no one to care
Is it true that the weapons were there in the store and was the regime unaware?
It now doesn’t matter what the truth of it is since the war has a life of its own
There are people who hate us and people who bait us and now the insurgents have grown

Collateral damage is easy to say, in fact, it rolls right off the lips
But after the army has gone on its way the family must then come to grips
It sounds quite benign when it’s said quietly and it truly does never sound wild
Collateral damage means someone, somewhere, has now lost a parent or child

The war will continue as wars often do, and no one can give you a time
Each day is new and you just plod along and try not to get out of line
When the war finally ends and the soldiers go home and no one knows who lost or won
Hear the sigh of relief from the indigents there now that collateral damage is done