10,000 Maniacs - Anthem For Doomed Youth Lyrics

For whom do the bells toll
When sentenced to die?
The stuttering rifles
Will stifle the cry

The monstrous anger
The fear's rapid rattle
A desert inferno
Kids dying like cattle

Don't tell me we're not prepared
I've seen today's marine
He's eighteen and he's eager
He can be quite mean

No mockeries for them
No prayers or bells
The demented choirs
The wailing of shells

The boys holding candles
On untraveled roads
The fear spreads like fire
As shrapnel explodes

I think it's wrong
To conscript our youth
Against their will
When plenty of our citizenry
Really like to kill

What sign posts will lead
To Armageddon's fires
What bugles will call them
From crowded gray shires

The women sit quiet
With death on their minds
A slow dusk descending
The drawing of blinds

Make the hunters all line up
It's their idea of fun
And let those be forgiven
Who never owned a gun

Was it him or me
Or the wailing of the dead?
The laughing soldiers cast their lots
And you can cut the dread