Violence

I'm trying to work it out where does violence come from
In the heat of the moment just what brings it on
There's violence in silence though you might think me wrong
Lights the blue touch paper for the fists and knives and guns

It's just below the surface but hidden well away
Disguised with greatest etiquette in the ways that we behave
Passed back and forth in lethal tennis games
Before the final act has blown the love away

This violence has run deep in history's angry seams
What violence is appropriate is what the lawcourts deem
Violence on the battlefield violence in the home
Violence nearly everywhere and just behind your nose

How one can regret but it's always too late
Whether it's to kill a man or just to smash a plate
In anger for something someone said or done
But who can look deep enough to ask where it comes from
Who can look deep enough to know where it comes from