slavery

we have already lost

have you talked to any of these young ones?

they love their jesus

they believe in the cross

they carry it with ‘em

and think that everyone should

you know

in addition to

buying stuff

yes

that is something

to become

something not to be questioned

like doing things for kids

like

 supporting the troops while they’re overseas

and thanking ‘em when they get home

once

at least

now

i know that this is not a day to talk about such things

about the inevitability of having a war machine

and what that means

what it means is             that you’re gonna wanna use it

    eventually

and these days

it seems

that sooner rather than later suits some folks      

but                      not                      me

i hear people say all kiiiiiiiinds of things

they say it’s a fact of life

the say it alllllways has been

and      that it always will be

well

i say (in my very best clay davis)

sheeeeeeeeeeee it

listen

lots of things have alllllways been

right up and until

we (yes, we) decide

that we don’t need them

i mean

we decide it is something

we     no     longer         need

now

you could argue

and some did

the very same thing

that bit about history     about tradition

about ‘it’s allllllways been’

about

slavery

slavery

yes              you see

it had alllllways been

right up to and until

we came to realize

(some sooner than others)  (some wayyyyy sooner than others)

         that it’s not something we need

and

even then

some held onto the idea out of

ignorance

avarice

or

greed 

(that’s the big one)

but

ownnnnning somebody has

(for the most part)

almost faded into history

why can’t we climb that same hill

now

with war

or poverty

please?