Keep Warm and Well Fed

Keep warm and well fed,
 My brother, my sister.
I’m not so heartless,
 It’s your fault you’re in this.

Head hung low and drenched in sweat,
 Sitting by the road.
Cardboard sign indicating
 He will work for food.

As you’re driving by,
 Casserole beside you,
You swear that you won’t
 Be late to the picnic again.

Keep warm and well fed,
 My brother, my sister.
I’m not so heartless,
 It’s your fault you’re in this.

Coughs up blood and writhes in pain,
 He knows his death is near.
His friends all dead, his family’s gone,
 Now he’s all alone.

As you’re walking past,
 To visit your new nephew,
You see him die, his AIDS you say,
 “He gets what he deserves.”

Keep warm and well fed,
 My brother, my sister.
I’m not so heartless,
 It’s your fault you’re in this.

His prison cell is gray and bare,
 He enters all alone.
At seventeen he shot a man,
 A drug deal that went wrong.

As you watch his trial,
 From the safety of your sofa,
His tears can’t warm your heart.
 His death’s your only answer.

Keep warm and well fed,
 My brother, my sister.
I’m not so heartless,
 It’s your fault you’re in this.

“To care for me when I was sick,
 In prison, starved or cold
Was all I asked. Yes, that was it:
 My rule; you called it gold.”

And now the King has come
 In glory and with power
To see what we have done
 To answer grace with honor.

Keep warm and well fed,
 My brother, my sister.
I’m not so heartless,
 It’s your fault you’re in this.