36 Views of San Francisco: 36+12. Awake

36 Views of San Francisco: 36+12. Awake
July 18, 2018

America
your wounds lumber my thoughts
your wounds slumbered my sight
your wounds sinkholed my road
your wounds jacked my ride
you promised me freedom
then slaved me
your manifest destiny betrayed me
betrayed all your children
but only some know.
do we have to free you
to be free
is this how you chain our souls
is this how you finally need me?
waking up to shackles
insurrecting your tabernacles
of hate, ignorance and greed?
your world is on fire, America,
your world is on fire
because of you
you tossed us aside
topsy turvied us
brainwashed and purveyed us
on ideas you didn’t believe.
i believed your Constitution
but your hidden law is persecution
oppression and retribution
for sins of coloration
for sins of elocution
for sins of evolution
enlightenment is your fear.
i’m grateful to you, Mother America,
i’m grateful, Mother
but
do I have to be grateful for both
breast and heel
which follow me reel to reel
do I have to be grateful for the crush
of your unjust wheel?
what about our common weal?
you haven’t listened to our truth.
you haven’t listened
so you make us shout
and then accuse us of anger
as if that was immature spout.
but you claim a rage divine.
as if you’re more real than me,
than us.
you demand our love
blind devotion to your cause
but when has your cause been us?
i have empathy for your injuries
but do you have compassion for mine?
can we balm them together?
we are bonded together.
you’ve been hijacked
and don’t know
you’ve been hijacked
i’m trying to find your lost soul.
help me.
let us help.
Awake.