I Once Had A Home

"Once there was a way to get back homeward"

Once there was a way to see a party working to forge a resolve that violence
that required ancestors to face truths about human nature
could be overcome

Once there was a sparkle of hope that human rights wasn't a subjective game of finding ammunition to challenge what wasn't understood

Once there was a time when lobbyists didn't outnumber congress people and power wasn't centered around the ability to campaign and not the art of crafting legislation

Once there was a time when the primary defeat of my preferred candidate didn't stamp out my inclination to stay engaged

Once there was a time when in the ashes of defeat fingers weren't pointed exclusively to external forces and obfuscating personal responsibility

My path feels so uncertain and my belief has been torn asunder
the duopoly enforced has cemented a reticence of association

So "they aren't the other guys"
the lame blame game
deflates my naivety in sticking around

My trust has been broken
and it will never be the same
as long as the horrors of capitalism on opiates wins the day

The corridors of power still largely a white man's domain
and I see scant indices that
people of color are mentored or valued when crucial decisions need to be made

The worse truth found in knowing how many have wiped their hands of any connection
ensuring that "evil prevails when good people do nothing"

For "this is not America"




Lyrics courtesy of Lennon and McCartney, "Golden Slumbers", and Bowie, Metheny, Mays, "This Is Not America"