The Gun - Ben Watt

His family lives out in a gated community

It makes them believe in a magic immunity

'Armed Response' signs under the orange tree

And beyond the razor wire you can see the glittering sea

Cold-eyed cameras watch every door

There’s no public access to the beach or the shore

Private patrol cars, but that’s a joke

It’s just two guys napping and sipping on Diet-Coke

And as the weekend comes, well, here’s a thought —

Neighbours relax with guns and shooting sports

And most of the men going rat-a-tat-tat

Well, they haven’t got any problem with that

Until one day, a stray bullet travelling straight

Adds our hero on his skateboard to the death rate

Leaving his mother inconsolable

And of course the gun law, it’s controllable

And back by the gate

The patrol car glides

And bad luck stalks the roadsides

Who decides who holds and who doesn’t hold the gun

And who’s going to solve it with another one?

Who’s going to solve it with another one?

The bus rolls through the steep streets nearby

In the late afternoons the long shadows, they soften and dry

The wooden beach houses;

I see the chairs on the lawn

And books in the window, and an oncoming thunderstorm

And into the thickening sky I watch the bonfires flare

Black smoke melts into the blanket of night air

They threw a wreath into the ocean last night

It was bobbing beneath the stars and the moonlight

And back by the gate

The patrol car glides

And bad luck stalks the roadsides

Who decides who holds and who doesn’t hold the gun

And who’s going to solve it with another one?

Who’s going to solve it with another one?

I’ll meet you down by the water

I’ll meet you down by the water