There's addition and subtraction
But division overall
Hope, once in fluid motion
Has slowed behind a crawl
Oh, the images are strong now
The words are pretty good
But there's more fiction out of Washington
Than out of Hollywood
On the road of good intentions
All gets justified to hell
The price revealed in stories
Too short, too sad to tell
Is this permanent improvement
Through abbreviated lives
Or another tragic venture
Shocking when the bill arrives?
By the rubble where the house was
There are markers in the dirt
Children with no need of freedom
They can no longer be hurt
On the road of good intentions
All gets justified to hell
The price revealed in stories
Too short, too sad to tell
Oh, the soldiers and their families
With life and limb they pay
While the ones who sent them marching
Get to dance the night away
I always come back to the soldiers
With their courage and ideals
I've seen them smoking in the airport
There's no telling how it feels
On the road of good intentions
All gets justified to hell
The price revealed in stories
Too short, too sad to tell