You Really Want A Revolution?

LaSalle and Jackson, Chicago, Il, September 24, 2011 

The Fab Four made the score,

A Revolution is in store,

Global change the assigned chore,

Address the ills of the money whore.

Occupy Chicago, LaSalle and Jackson. September 24, 2011

What is it you seek to do?

Make human nature anew?

Wanting only what is true,

History’s record is unskewed.

This is not the lover’s decadent dance.

People have marshaled with less of a chance.

Alter the fate of like defiant France,

Against King and Church was the stance.

Occupy Chicago, LaSalle and Jackson,  October 2011

But that was a damn long time ago,

And Antoinette succumbed to the guillotine’s blow.

But that historic feat did not make humanity grow,

Enlightenment, Knowledge, Awareness comes slow.

Since the day of the humane blade,

Millions have history’s debt paid.

Names in ledgers, on stonework, portrayed,

Great tales of courage and outrage made.

Occupy Chicago, LaSalle and Jackson, October 2011

So, the musical question has worth,

Is a new society what you seek, a rebirth?

What of the horrors that will be unearthed?

What fiends will be called forth?

Way Past Time

Protester in Guy Fawkes Mask, September 24, 2011, Chicago, IL 

Way past time to make a stand,

Corruption is the law of the land.

That is what we all understand,

So now it is time to make a plan.

Gathered in a New York summer park,

Just A few hours before it’d go dark,

Citizens concerned about greed’s ugly mark,

Worn down bate for Wall Street’s Sharks.

Intelligent people from all walks of life,

Telling their story about living in strife.

The nation who bore them now corrupted rife,

Lead by predators snuffing out life.

The single issue upon which agreed,

The flow of money was the unholy seed.

“One person; One dollar; One Vote,” Was the creed,

That was the message that would succeed.

Over the weeks the discussion turned,

How to teach? How to learn?

How to make the imagination churn?

Will the remaining citizens finally learn?

Camping out in public space,

Take the clue from the Arab case.

Live open upon the common trace,

In tents, on mats, open, in place.

One night on a late August date,

The vote was confirmed on that slate.

A test camp, sidewalk arrests made, court decision did wait.

The judge tossed charges Occupy’s elate. 

September 17, 2011 was the “step off” date. 

Whisper

Come close and let me whisper this clear,

We live with loss of what is dear.

Life will end even if you fuss,

Protest it if you must.

We hold a small fraction of time,

And now, this moment, is but one in a line.

You might pass on what you know and saw,

But in the end it is a draw.

You walk alone in a group through life,

At some point you may find a husband or wife.

Together you might challenge the strife,

And along come children to leave sticky prints from the jelly knife.

At the height of time you may think you’ve won,

But the day will come when it is undone.

Children grow to follow their own sun,

And in the end there is no one.

It is a sad reality, in which we live,

But in the end we return what nature did give.

Some grievous slights we will forgive,

And others, we will just outlive.

In the end we too shall fall,

That is the handwriting on the wall.

Time will make each so very small,

Sorry to say, but fate will come to call.

You might quake and shiver, or shout defiance,

But in the end you’ll fall in compliance.

That is nature, and that is science.

In that ultimate fate you have reliance.

This is important for you to know,

For it is the fate of the rich and the low.

It is the ultimate equity for the swift and the slow.

No one escapes the vigil’s glow.

Knowing this, what should one do?

That is the question for more than a few.

Do you live for yourself, or do you live for the crew?

It is the question to ask, it remains so true.

 

Occupied Chicago Tribune. People's Summit. May 2012.