Nothing We Can Do
Location
Yes yes, no no,
They all say different things
But it all means the same thing
To you
They say “I’ll try”
Or they’ll put it in a file
But in the end you’ll only hear the words
“There is nothing we can do.”
Nothing we can do,
How imminent that sounds!
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
On and on
Laws stop us,
Rules get in our way
And choke us, their purposes long
Gone.
They won’t reply.
They won’t hear your call.
Don’t you know, you silly child? Democracy
Is broken.
All that is left
Is the sad hollow shell that no one
Can touch, nothing more than
A token.
They will tell you
All of these things and more.
They will reprimand you for your
Silliness.
They will tell you
To go home, don’t waste your time,
They are only looking out for your best
Interests.
But do not listen.
Do not heed their words because they lie
And theirs are the tongues of the
Tired.
They have fought
And argued and didn’t budge their ground
Just as you will when your heart
Is fired
But they didn’t see change.
They only saw the struggle
And the stubbornness of the
World
And they worked
Until their hearts fell and their hands
Were still and their flags
Were furled
But that is not your fate!
You can paint the globe!
All you need to do is to look just
Past.
Past the wailing ghosts
Of failures gone by, their
Shadows still clinging softly to every vestige of
Precedent
Past all those who tell you
You can’t, you won’t, there’s nothing you can do
Because those words do not mean what
Is meant.
“There is nothing we can do”
They say, but they mean there is nothing they will
Do because there is always something
You can do.
We are human
And the world is at our fingertips
And we were meant to fight, to struggle,
To lose.
But we are human
And we were also made to win
If we try and we work and the Lord gives
His blessing.
There is something you can do.
You can breath and speak and scream and change
The world but you must hurry because the world
Is pressing.
And those tired teachers
Sitting behind creaking wooden desks don’t know
The fire, the passion in your
Soul
If they did, they wouldn’t stop
At anything to push you through
The bleak, knotty, jungle of life that snags
And pulls
They would stand up
Get out of those comfortable chairs,
Nailed to the ground by their sleepy
Neglect
They would remember
All that they once knew they could do
When the world was there and mom was
Always correct
And they would lift you up
On the shoulders of the tired
Carrying you like they were never carried
And say
There is always something
You can do, but you cannot delay
Because the world is already ready to change
Today.