World of Promise by Michael Clay
We’re tired of feeling robbed
Raped and bereaved
Pitying ourselves over this waste
We see these Stonehenge circumstances
Toppling bang on bang
On dominoes down
Thinking we can’t stop it
Suck up and get what you can
Cuz no one else is lookin’ out for you
It ain’t rape when you
Just lie back and take it
Scream out
Scratch deep
Don’t let them take away our world of promise

We’re done with all this crowded solitude
This fascination with watching others’
Pixilated pain
Scripted and contrived
Or so we’ve believed
We must keep it at arms length
We’re so sure a close embrace
Will yield no warmth or solace
We don’t want to be timid
Uncertain and scared
But, neither can we take disappointment
We only want to be grasped
In the happy hot hands of our world of promise

We’re weary of our weakness
Our lack of resolve
To rebel against the selfish
The so much more selfish than we
It’s all give and take
For the good to feel good
But they just take, take, take, take
As long as we agree to give
We can withhold
We can substitute instead
“This for that”
For that shrinking pod we offer a world of promise

We’re impatient with the presumptuous
All eyes and tongue and bottomless gut
Talkin’ their trade
While gulping us down
Give ’em a great big bite o’ nuthin’!
Nuthin’ they can digest
We’ll throw it back in their teeth
Make them swallow and not spit
We’ll choke’m
While we revel in our vision
In our common task to build our world of promise