Freedom

Freedom (4th November, 2011).

We brought our placards and our peaceful words;
We brought our passion, hoped that we’d get heard;
We brought our strength, our dignity, our righteous heads
To yet another night of ninety-nine protests.

We were interviewed by the camera crews;
We were on the news; pride burned in our breasts;
We felt a solidarity against The Man,
United in our mission to support The Plan.

‘Til late at night, we held our heads up high;
We woke up tired by strangely satisfied.
But, in the morning light, nothing had really changed;
In the city smog, the world still just looked the same.

You see, it’s as simple as black and white,
Just left or right, East and West… I confess,
I don’t know where to draw the line, make the divide.
They’re not listening to us: change takes too much time.

Them and us, but not us, just government,
Businessmen, the one percent: them not us,
But it’s just them that are the ones to blame.
We just work; we just pay our taxes and our fines;
We just work; we just get on with the daily grind,
Just cogs in the machine, the force behind their greed…
Doth we protest too much? Them not us, them not us:
We are the people’s voice; we are the ninety-nine.

We smoke our cigarettes, clutch coffee cups,
Legal drugs designed to keep us in line;
We watch the petrol prices soar: they tax us more.
The cost of living costs more than we can afford…

So tonight, bring placards and peaceful words;
Bring your passion, and your voice; make a choice.
Do nothing and the cost to all will be too high:
They are one percent, You are the ninety-nine.

Jennifer Pickup