Twenty Bodies to a Grave

Twenty Bodies to a Grave © 10-8-2008 Bob Mullany

A young girl flees her burning village in the deserts of Sudan
And the evil that was done to her you'd never understand
They left her beat and bloody,
Left her damaged and defiled
One of them would never know
He was the father of her child

Twenty bodies to a grave
Will tell you what a life is worth
When the Janjaweed come riding
Blood is sure to stain the earth
When a child's life is measured
By one circuit of the sun
It's no sin for one to think
At least her suffering is done

The unsuspecting mother came to live another day
They brought her to the camps
'Cause there was nowhere else to stay
The baby knew some peace
Within the darkness of the womb
With the future waiting for her
It may as well have been a tomb

Twenty bodies to a grave
Will tell you what a life is worth
When the Janjaweed come riding
Blood is sure to stain the earth
When a child's life is measured
By one circuit of the sun
It's no sin for one to think
At least her suffering is done

The baby girl came early,
then her mother danced with death
She cried in pain and hunger, and she struggled for a breath
The odds were long, too much went wrong,
You could smell how it would end
How often will this happen
Before it won't happen again ?

Twenty bodies to a grave
Will tell you what a life is worth
When the Janjaweed come riding
Blood is sure to stain the earth
When a child's life is measured
By one circuit of the sun
It's no sin for one to think
At least her suffering is done