Broken Skin - Nitin Sawhney

Today at 15.45 hours India conducted three

Underground nuclear tests in the Pokhran Range

Hope falls softly from your hands

Dreams burn deep beneath the land

Time casts shadows overall, sweating fever

Rain or river, brushing winds beneath your call

Broken skin, distant fear, shattered worlds of endless tears

Hidden fires, distant lies, buried hopes beneath the cries

Broken skin, distant fears, silent lips, so far, so near

Silence, 'tis every hope apart

Two flames burn deep beneath one heart

Teardrops flow faster with the tide

Raging over calmer waters as the timeless land divides

Broken skin, distant fear, shattered worlds of endless tears

Hidden fires, distant lies, buried hopes beneath the cries

Broken skin, distant fears, silent lips, so far, so near

Broken, distant, shattered

Hidden, distant, buried

Broken, distant, silent

Cold games repeat on Eastern shores

Strong winds blow over colder wars

Proud lips stay silent in the rain

(There are half a million voices in the song without a name)

Broken, distant, shattered

Hidden, distant, buried

Broken, distant, silent, shattered

Hidden, distant, buried

Broken, distant, silent

(So far, so close)

Shattered

(There are half a million voices)

Distant, shattered, distant, shattered

(There are half a million voices)

Just five miles from India’s nuclear test site

Children play in the shade of the village water tank

Here in the Rajasthan desert people say they’re proud

Their country’s shown its nuclear capability