The horrors of history haunt the Balkans
Wasted passions fueled by hatred
Phantom pains of history not yet recycled
A hostage bound by guilt so sacred
A land so diverse, yet so rash,
Left so many fields to yet clash
Race and hate set the scene
For many stages the world let go unseen
Centuries past, leaves a land so lashed
With fear amongst so many nations
Led to selfish acts grown from desperation
Great fires burned from so much tension
Cast into darkness by such a demise
Led to bloodshed, left uncompromised
The nightmares of Children
The Scars of Fathers
And the burden left on now single Mothers
These are the stories of such we are now to discover
1453, the Turks have arrived on scene
After the remains of Romans broke at the seams
With this new master came more chatter
A little whisper turned into a new chapter
A fire of freedom, a tyrant to resist
Let the Balkan states create a rift
A shift that became rugged and dismissed
The hope of victory and independence.
Centuries of struggle and new found freedoms
Left a gap for newly formed demons
From the north the Hapsburgs lay
Sent their armies to our dismay
Took down Bosnia so quick and brash
Now Serbia remains with the ash.
1914, in Sarajevo, an event to remember
The Archduke and Wife, half a year shy from December
Took a wrong turn and led to an event to remember
Shot dead, both lay, set the stage for the world of embers
This is where history seemed quick to dismember.
From here the Serbs and Austro-Hungarians went to blows
Filling graveyards row by row
Now from the east, the old traitors
Those damned Bulgarians return to plague us.
But from this war, we made something greater.
A new kingdom we built, one of Croats, Serbs and Slovenes.
It didn't take long for us to be seen
Now caught in between two sides looking for new play-things
The Germans came down quick and fast
Such brutality we became harassed
Amassed a new army to remind us of the past
From the Croatian Ustaše
To the Fascist Muslims
And the Serbian Chetniks
They all clashed,
Collaboration and Resistance fought
While the damned Nazis sat back and laughed
In due time we made them pay, slit their throats
And let them hang
A fitting payback for setting our beautiful land aflame
In due time we came though,
under Tito, we marched on
From the rubble, a Federal Republic was born
However it didn't take long for that to burn
When Tito was laid to rest
It set the stage for Ethnic unrest.
1991, the swords redrawn,
Split along ethnic echelons
The Croats and Slovenes voted to Secede
Followed by the Bosnians and Herzegovinians
With new battle lines formed,
We departed, left a great vision be discarded
Yet Kosovo became so guarded
While the Serbs were greatly bombarded.
Over a near decade of war, we endured
Serbia and Montenegro stood
Side by side, but not for long
2008, decided to split off strong.
Although divided, we are somewhat united
Let the arms lay to rest, let our children enjoy the best
Let the future for the Balkans be bright,
For now we all bask in both sun and moonlight.
