It always grows foreboding,
When the sun dips below the clouds.
You can hear the fury of the people
You can feel it in the crowds.
You’d like to think it will be okay,
But you know deep down inside.
That beneath the cloak of darkness
Is where the monsters always hide.
The streets are full of trouble,
In a nation gripped by fear.
A match is lit, a bomb goes off
The riot squad is here.
In a chaotic sea of tear gas,
And Molotov soaked rags.
The crackdown, fast and vicious.
And dissenters? Bound and gagged.
You can quote the Constitution,
You can be an expert on the law,
But it doesn’t matter in the war zone,
When a nation is torn raw.
It doesn’t matter where you come from,
Could be both sides of the tracks.
But you may not live to see tomorrow
If you happen to be black.
They don’t care about your money,
They don’t care what prominence you bring,
They don’t care about your family,
They only care about one thing.
We used to think the Stars and Stripes,
Meant the land of the free and brave.
But in fact it’s where injustice,
Fills too many shallow graves.
There’s an unnerving lack of safety,
As we watch our cities burn.
What America will greet us,
By the time the sun returns?