Checking In: Onward Recede

Onward Recede

I went down to join the protest
With the puppets and activists
Against a war felt most unwanted
Though when is war ever wanted?
And they sang the same old songs they’d probably sung a hundred times
And they looked at me like a mad man when I tried to offer mine
So we marched as if rehearsed
Putting on our grand sweeping play
Then we went home to watch reruns
While leaders still go about their way

So march onward
Sing your anthems
Dull your swords against the walls
Kind of makes me wonder if its even for the cause at all

When somebody asked my thoughts on anarchy
I said that I had liked the song
Then almost like a bible salesman
He talked o freedom from the law
And I asked him, what of those in need and those who won’t come along
And his answer, most disturbing, was, “we’ll make them see that they’re wrong”
Then he marched away so militant
Smashing windows from the street
And the newspapers demonized the crowd
As a mob against the peace

So fight onward
New Sons of Liberty
In black masks with purple bombs
Kind of makes me wonder if you’re even for the cause at all

Now as I sit and point my fingers
Have I become the thing I hate?
Has the romantic become pessimist?
Has the poet grown sedate?
Do I resist the many half-truths I see for a world of certain lies?
If it’s a sincere strive against deception, what have I let fall by the side?
Across the sea, the blood flows constant
Despite our winter’s forgetful gauze
And beside the lavish Christmas tree
I contemplate… nature and the cause

So write onward
Plight paralyzed poet
Onward recede amongst the thrall
Kind of makes me wonder if I’m even for the cause at all