Up in Flames
When
flames broke out in Minneapolis
The soul
of a nation caught fire
It might
have been the world
From
Moscow to Madrid
From
Israel to Istanbul
From
Panama to Paris
From
Lisbon to London
Primed and
ready to explode
Like that
long forgotten summer
When Watts
went up in flames
And the
westside of every town
From San
Diego to the coast of Maine
Balanced
on the edge of eruption
Held their
breaths
And waited
Strike a
flint and watch it burn
People
cannot hold in place
So long
without giving way
Without
finding some release
Without
setting off a chain reaction
That
reaches from the smallest village
To the
vast metropolis of LA
Like that
summer of 68
When the
students of Paris
Claimed
the streets demanding
Fundamental
change
The
authorities didn’t understand
They don’t
understand today
We have
reached a tipping point
We stand
on the precipice
Of total
cataclysmic destruction
There is
no mother that doesn’t smell it
There is
no father that does not sweat
The powder
keg is filled to brimming
And no one
is beyond the reach
Of its
destructive pull
May cooler
calmer heads prevail
May poets
and preachers carry the day
This is not
a time for vengeance
It is a
time for common cause
A time for
human kindness to rise
And unchecked
anger to subside
We are all
in this together
Heart to
heart mind to mind
We are all
in this together
And
together we must find
A way out
of this bind
