Liberty is bleeding,
but they say she's doing fine.
Took the cloth off lady Justice,
now only fools are blind.
Threw a tourniquet together,
tight around her reddened wrist,
to hide it from the sunlight,
and the salty harbor mist.
Liberty is bleeding,
you can't see the blood-soaked truth.
The old girl's barely standing,
and a little long of tooth.
The torch rests a little lower,
and the tired and huddled masses,
read a plaque that says "Turn back,
or we'll shoot your troubled *****."
Liberty is bleeding,
she can't hold up her head.
If everybody saw the wound
panic would be widespread.
In the sun on Ellis Island,
you can tell that she is hurt.
She's stepped down off her pedestal.
She's standing in the dirt.
She's leaning, doubled over,
like she's gonna fall apart.
Liberty is bleeding,
because we tore out her heart.

Speak to me, Poet.
Sing the songs of the sea.
Use your rhythm and rhyme
and teleport me.
Paint a grand picture
with kaleidoscope words
of great crashing waves
and soaring sea birds.

Pine to me, Poet
tell me stories of woe,
of lovers and champions
that have been let go.
Sing softly of passion
and sadly of pain;
if the song is familiar, 
I'll join in the refrain.

Swear to me, Poet
that your story is true-
and I'll live vicariously
for a moment, through you.
Turn words into vision
and then let me see.
Though the hour is late,
I have nowhere to be.

Cry with me, Poet,
Oh! how the heart aches,
at the depth of the sorrows,
the mournful mistakes.
But spare me not, Poet,
til your songs are all through;
Though the hours fly by
I have naught else to do.

Write for me, Poet,
and I'll write for you.
We'll share our condition
be the skies gray or blue.
The morning will be here
before you know it.
So for now, sit a while,
and rhyme with me, Poet.

One nation under assault,
one nation under pressure,
one nation claiming greatness against 
an outdated measure.
With liberty and justice stockpiled commodities
and legions of disgruntled youth
left to deal with the atrocities.
One nation under-loved
One nation over-policed
One nation claiming Jesus
wearing the tell-tale mark of the beast.
With hate in the left hand, and hate in the right,
and both hands balled up like we're dying to fight.
A New Day, they call this perpetual night
This suffocating darkness that chokes out the light
And EVERYBODY THINKS THAT THEIR SIDE IS RIGHT.

One nation underwhelmed by the policies they chose
One hypocrisy of a democracy, calling their own stink a rose
One thing after another, no wonder the kids are cynics now,
thinking "You CAN'T make it better, WE don't know how."
Love is lost in the struggle between apathy and hate
America, the beautiful. America, the great.
America, the fractured paragon, 
We cling to ghosts of a changing time
We've fallen for the distractions, and
our pedestal is too high to climb.

Oh brothers, oh sisters, what else can we do?
If you'll look out for me, and I look out for you,
just a ripple in this pool of ****
may clear the waters, just a bit.
But as long as there are white votes
black votes
Latino votes
left votes
right votes
there'll be no vote of confidence 
in the future of these divided states.
We'll rip ourselves apart,
tear out our own heart
waving our flags the whole time
and claiming no blame for the divide.
God Bless America,
and do it quick.
All sides of this society
are dying or sick.

You're never all the way alone,
Someone will always care.
In spite of darkest solitude
A light is always there.
Don't hesitate to reach right out
If you should need a hand,  
And if no-one should catch your fall,
Someone will help you stand.
Life is full of broken hearts
And lonely, pitch black nights
And looking at the gloom they cast
It's hard to see the lights.
But rest assured, when all seems bleak
And life's torments abound
You're never all the way alone
As long as I'm around.

Intoxicated
With one taste
Of your cherry lips
I'm blitzed
Drunk and powerless
to resist
Smashed, trashed
Plastered.
I'm useless,
You've got me hooked
From one sweet kiss.

If I should see the sunset soon
My life drawn to a close
There's little I would fret about
As far as my past goes.
No place or plot unwrought would I
Dare look back on with dread
I'd fill my final thoughts on earth
With your sweet face instead.

No earthly woe or unsung verse
Could burden me on death.
Rather I would speak your name
Even with my last breath
Such ending would befit my life
When my time here is through
No better way to wrap it up
Than rapt in thoughts of you.

"Can you feel it?
Almost close enough to touch.  It's pure potential
And it is only limited by our own crippled souls.
Our willingness to stop advancing.  
Fearing change.
Fearing failing.
But forgetting forfeit is also a loss.  
We pass on our own destinies,
Choosing to live vicariously through nothing-
Because NOTHING excites us.
NOTHING moves us
NOTHING motivates us
And NOTHING is all we take for ourselves.
Nothing is heavy around our ankles, keeping us as it is...
Can you feel it?