Once upon a time, in the land of Hush-A-Bye,
Around about the wondrous days of yore,
They came across a kind of box ,
Bound up with chains and locked with locks
And labelled 'Kindly do not touch; it's war.'

So decree was issued all about, all with a flourish and a shout,
And a gaily coloured mascot tripping lightly on before,
Said, "Please don't break into this deadly box,
Don't break the chains or unlock the locks
And please don't ever mess about with war."

Well the children understood cause children happen to be good,
And they were just as good around about the wondrous days of yore,
They didn't break into that deadly box,
They didn't break the chains or unlock the locks,
And they didn't mess about with war.

Well mammies didn't either or sisters, aunts or grannies neither,
Because they were kind and they were good and they were pretty, just like now,
But someone did, someone battered in the lid,
And a sort of bouncy, bumpy ball went tossing all across the floor,
Bringing all the things that go with war like sadness and sickness and children crying and children dying.

And what was sad was that bumped the children mainly,
And I'll tell you this quite plainly,
It bumps them every day hundreds of them, thousands of them sick, crying and dying,
We can stop this ball from bouncing, we can take this ball and put it back into its box,
All it takes is wisdom and in this world there is plenty of wisdom.