eB tahT srewoP ehT - Being As An Ocean

There has always been this sneaking suspicion

There’s something critical we’ve missed

More connected than ever before

Yet we are all dying of loneliness

The trap was set;

we’ve trusted a deception

As if there weren’t fullness of life without incorporation

Into these churning and violent systems

(Outrage without information

Has left our spirits in shambles

Clanging cymbals, mindless babble)

We skirt around the issue

No matter how immensely prevalent

Everyone’s so scared to breathe a word

No one wants to mention it

That after all they’ve sacrificed

We’d rather trust a fucking screen

Than sit in tactful humility

Discourse with a human being

Instead of think for ourselves

We’d rather be fed what to believe

They won’t know what’s on our hearts

Until it stops beating in our chest

Won’t wait to see what’s on our mind

Until it exits the back of our heads

Those sworn to protect us have become our captors

One-stop judge, jury, and executioner

Granted license to take a life without giving chase

Youth cut down in its prime

Oh G-d, what a fucking waste!

You took a solemn oath, placed your hand on that Bible

Pledged your protection and service

To adorn yourself in courage

Craven hands, dutifully raised

To uphold truth and justice

Would rather bend the knee to fear

Instead of flex that muscle between their ears

Coward, pull that trigger with haste!

I’ll fire back with my words and a raised fist

Those sworn to protect us have become our captors

Don’t make idiots your idols;

so many bow down to fools

Strutting around like crownless kings

Raving mad aristocrats, crippled by insecurity

They prey upon the weak, both in will and mind

Preaching that compliance is peace

That the walls they’ll build will bring sanctuary

Masses, blinded by fear, clutch and grab for stability

But one day, we’ll look up and see the walls and wire

Our monoliths of false safety

And realize that our battlements have only served to shut us in

Stone only hardens our hearts

Isolation only constricts our souls

Hatred dominates when we refuse to see the other as our own

(We are still here)

Were we ever truly free?