POETRY PAGES

ONCE I WAS

by T. Hubbard

I was born a gentle soul in a land where might is king,

where the rapping of a spoon against the prisons bars

is the sound of freedoms ring.

When I was young I was American proud,

and could not wait to be a man,

so I could serve like all my western heroes,

(and that was all in their plan.)

The cop on the corner would smile and say

”What you gonna be when you grow?”

I’d reply “A fireman,

but maybe a policeman, you never know.”

Every morning we swore allegiance,

we were taught about liberty,

how each and every one us

were equally guaranteed to be free.

That some were more than equal,

we suspected it all along,

but that was not a topic for discussion,

you couldn’t find it even in a song.

Then they killed my brothers over in Vietnam,

for no damn good reason that anyone could understand.

and they made a war for everything

as if they’d had it planned.

And nary a rich mans son had to do the duty.

No politician’s child ever met a soldier’s death.

No corporate progeny was left to die in the mud,

cold and alone as they drew their last breath.

Peace and Love were ridiculed by power,

Greed. Lust, and self-satisfaction became the accepted way,

Freedom is equal only to your bank account,

And you cannot eat, drink, live, or breathe but that you’re gonna pay.

Some cud chewing’ truck drivin’ redneck

Put a gun up to my head.

If it weren’t for grace and witnesses,

I’d probably now be dead.

The bullies won almost all the elections,

What they didn’t control they destroyed.

They put uniforms on thugs, gave ‘em badges and guns,

so that all violent criminals might be gainfully employed.

And all the peaceful people tried real hard to hide,

But the forests were consumed, the waters turned to slime,

They put up GPS satellites that could read the date on a dime.

They sucked up the Earths’ hydraulic fluid,

and burned a hole in the sky,

I even have to ask their damn permission,

when it comes time for me to die.

Now they are after the rest of the world,

and in America life just goes on.

Yet humanity’s’ anger won’t just go away,

real liberty is a call that is strong.

Ah once I was a gentle lad,

but that no longer is the case.

Truth is the sharpest sword I know,

And I’m gonna keep on waving it all over the place.

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