If day's had been much brighter
and the west wind far less biting,
with paths sufficiently straighter
and avoiding fruitless fighting.

If clearer thoughts pervaded
with our goals so set in stone,
if the tyrants and dictators
would just leave us all alone.

If the drugs that you are feeding us,
weren’t always quite so strong,
and the roads you’re always building
didn’t have to be so long.

If plans and all the plotting
were for good instead of bad
and the faces that we see
were not so worried or so sad.

If all the wealth and power
was purged from those on high,
or the promises they made
were all for real and not just lies.

If people walked down busy streets
with heads held high and proud,
for torment and oppression
were no longer quite so loud.  

If mankind could live in peace;
health and welfare for all,
fragile elders were helped back up,
not derided if they fall.

If discipline, love and respect
were restored within the masses
and society made more equal
with no need to split the classes.

If once again, deep despair
was a thing of days long past
and the family was the beating heart
that above all else, would last.

If you could only tell me we're free at last;
that the voice of reason heard,
that we had our own identities
and were no longer just part of the herd.

...

We live our lives on ifs and buts
and fear the days to come,
we judge our futures by the past
instead of moving on.

If only we could just let it all go;
just live our lives so free,                    
leave behind all the fear and hate
and then look ahead to see...

...a brighter world of joy and hope
would soon be bursting free,
with love and light abounding
that’s for one and all to see.

Clear blue skies and a warming sun,
filling hearts with desire,
a peaceful world of will and wonder
would be rising from the fires.


*
Written by Darren Scanlon, 10th February 2014.
revised 14th August 2015.
© 2015 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.