Snakes and Snipers - John Edmond

[Lyrics]
We stood for what we know is right
We stood against the red star's might
We won the fight upon the battlefield
but then the politicians came and played a silent alien game
They said that we should bend and we should yield

and the snakes and snipers plagued us in the bush
but they couldn't ever beat us with the sword
Now the snakes and snipers hide behind the pen
and try to get us with the written word

They say the pen is bold and free
and mightier than the sword could be
but puppets are the scribes that write the play
Those puppets do not know their lot
They've never heard an angry shot
and only write to earn a weekly pay

and the snakes and snipers plagued us in the bush
but they couldn't ever beat us with the sword
Now the snakes and snipers hide behind the pen
and try to get us with the written word

So write your periodicals, Sunday penny horribles
and keep on sniping at us from afar
It takes much more than that to keep a troopie from his beauty sleep
Be proud of what we did and what we are

and the snakes and snipers plagued us in the bush
but they couldn't ever beat us with the sword
Now the snakes and snipers hide behind the pen
and try to get us with the written word

[Lyrics transcribed by The Ghost of Ian Smith in June of 2019]