Give the children back their childhood
Let the children run and play.
Don’t make them fight your battles
They’re the ones who always seem to pay.

Don’t make battlefields of their playgrounds
Don’t barricade their streets
Or they’ll grow up to soon
And they won’t grow up complete.

You can raise them on your hatred;
Revel in it, that’s your right
But if you do just remember
It’ll haunt their sleep at night.

A little mommy feeds her baby
Giving all the love she knows.
A tiny builder’s building bridges
to a world in which he’s going to grow.

Give the children back their childhood
Let the children run and play
And skip away on wings of fantasy
And dream of what they’ll be some day.

Don’t feed their minds with your bitter lines
And the prejudice that is yours
And they just may forget some day to carry on our wars.
And they just may forget some day to carry on our wars.