Twenty Tons of Tnt
(Michael Flanders)

I have seen it estimated, somewhere between death and birth,
There are now three thousand million people living on this earth.
And the stockpiled mass destruction of the nuclear pow'rs that be
Equals for each man or woman Twenty tons of T.N.T.

cho: Twenty tons of T.N.T.?
TWENTY TONS OF T.N.T.

Ev'ry man of ev'ry nation shall receive this allocation,
Texan, Bantu, Slav, or Maori, Argentine or Singhalee,
Ev'ry maiden brings this dowry: Twenty tons of T.N.T!

Not for thirty silver shilling---twenty thousand pounds a killing,
Twenty hundred years of teaching give to each his legacy;
Plato, Buddha, Christ or Lenin, Twenty tons of T.N.T!

Father, mother, son and daughter, "Give us land and seed and water,"
Children have no need for sharing. At each new nativity
Come the ghostly Magi bearing Twenty tons of T.N.T!

Ends the tale that has no sequel, now in death are all men equal.
Teach me how to love my neighbor, do to him as he to me-
Share the fruits of all our labor: Twenty tons of T.N.T!

Copyright Michael Flanders, 1967
RG