I lit a match /
And it made a fire. /
And for my cigarette /
I wanted to take the fire from the match. /
But the match slipped from my hand and landed on the rug. /
And it almost made a hole in the rug.
Well, you know what can happen /
If you're not careful with fire. /
And for the light on a cigarette /
A rug feels rather too expensive. /
And from the rug the fire, alas, /
Might have spread to the whole house /
And who knows what would have happened thereafter?
There would have been a fire in the district /
And the fire fighters would have had to come. /
They would have honked in the streets /
And unloaded their pipes. /
And they would have sprayed fire /
And it would have been in vain /
And the whole city would have burned with nothing to protect it.
And the people would have jumped around /
Fearing for their possessions. /
They would have thought somebody had started a fire. /
They would have grabbed assault rifles. /
Everyone would have shouted: "Whose fault is it?" /
The whole country would have rioted. /
And they would have shot at the ministers behind the lecterns.
The UN would have become involved /
And the UN enemies as well. /
To preserve peace in Switzerland /
Both would have come with tanks. /
It would have spread, little by little, /
To Europe, to Africa. /
There would have been a World War and humans would be no more.
I lit a match /
And it made a fire. /
And for my cigarette /
I wanted to take the fire from the match. /
But the match slipped from my hand and landed on the rug. /
Thankfully, I picked it back up.