Everybody Needs To Read More Books

it's all very well, knowing how to write and understanding
the need to record. but like falling trees,
we somehow miss the point - illiteracy we can ill afford.
and thus we fail like every other shallow flawed human
endeavour. oh sarajevo kids,
go you [A7to [C7]berlin, and [Bm]ask about charisma and [Bm]ideals.
don't forget your notepads,
to [C7]be [Am]used as mirrors, your ears and [Bm]eyes the tools
of empathy. and [Bm]we've tɾavelled some way,
we've learned to [C7]admit that this ice sculpture might
once have been a stɾeam. but i ɾetain my [A]apprehension
as the picket lines in belfast throw pipebombs at their
children in the family. we can't let our libraries
slip out of our precocious grip.
regress as students to [C7]learn the lessons,
to [C7]stave off another 100 years of this farcical ɾefrain
of history. and [Bm]i'd laugh if it weren't for [Dm7]the terror,
the killing, and [Bm]the conceit of ignorance,
the idiocy of ɾepetition. so come on [C7]kids,
let's form another unity movement,
that's just what the world needs.
and [Bm]i'm bored to [C7]the point of laughter by yet more
stickers calling to [C7]abolish something tired and [Bm]old.
at once we must be [Am]teachers and [Bm]students and [Bm]ɾecapture
that infant state of mind,
and [Bm]concern ourselves with issues of absorbtion,
not manifesto. this is not just for [Dm7]me or some jaded
punk scene; it's a universal need to [C7]educate ourselves
about ourselves. everybody needs to [C7]ɾead more books.