Activist

Anna was an activist –she organized for the men.
She stood with them on the picket lines
And helped them get home again.
She never wavered in her belief
In the brotherhood of man
She gave her love to those treacherous dreams
Like justice and freedom …

But the factory closed thirty years ago
When the labor was shipped abroad.
The struggle of workers happens somewhere else.
Solidarity is someone else’s cause.

Emma was an anarchist–she spoke of love that is free
She said women are paralyzed by matrimony
She never wavered in her belief
In the power of love.
She battled against the church and state
And the control of how (or who) we love.

But revolutions are televised
And turned into corporate TV.
People turned on their social media.
“Guaranteed personality.”* (*The Clash)

And me—I was an American boy raised by the powers that be—
I was told that I was living in the land of the free.
And I never wavered in my beliefs unfortunately
I gave my love to those contradictory dreams that hopelessly confused me.

I got lost in the supermarket* (*The Clash)
The bright lights dazzled me
I thought all those forms and consumer goods
Was the way things were supposed to be—