bang, bang, he asks every night, bang, bang,
and you’re dead, wants you to sing in his ear
bang, all the ways we know how to take
each other’s lives and all the tools we’ve made
to help us do it, he forms tiny fists pretending,
already knows his body is enough, bang, bang
and when you take away his neon water gun,
he cries and throws his head back on the pavement,
bang, all the ways we know how to take
things away from children, to give them
back once they know how to really use them,
bang, bang, he asks every night, bang, bang?
outside your window and on the news,
in the small hands of his friends, their mouths,
bang, all the ways we know how to take
their hands and mouths for granted,
you’re dead, a refrain so familiar it fires
soundlessly, bang, bang, every night, he sings
all the ways we know how to take.