My Daughter

She was picking yellow flowers

Smiling at the sunlight

Weaving stems to make a necklace

Working hard to get it all right

She reached out to trade it

For the bread her mama brought her

And when I looked into her eyes, I saw my daughter

Her feet were bare as mine were

When I grew up in the country

And just like her I watched my mother

Hanging out the laundry

Now she's grabbed some clothes and darted off

And her mama chased and caught her

And when I looked into her eyes, I saw my daughter

She's running down the alleyway

Dust rising up behind her

She hides beneath the rubble

Where nobody can find her

And when she tires and walks back home

Mama tells her that she loves her

And when I looked into her eyes, I saw my daughter

And when the sun sets she is hungry

But there's no more bread to give her

The cement floor is cold tonight

And beneath the rags she shivers

And as the jet planes scorch the sky

She's longing for her brother

As the bombs fall in the distance

She wonders, will the next one fall much closer

It's not so far to Baghdad

And I could be her father

'Cause when I looked into her eyes, I saw my daughter

When I looked into her eyes, I saw my daughter