What does it take to get locked away?
Being poor in a public place?
In the shadows of self liberation
United States of Occupation
Take a seat with the state police
Riding on the train and you fell asleep—
Next stop, the iron bars
So they lock down all the subway cars
Form a line up the blind alley
What kind of visions are these?
When you see what they see, the deck is stacked
Doing time you can never get back
Silence for the ears
Darkness for the eyes
Been staring at the sun so long
By the time you look away you’re blind
Tossed in a cage
Wasting away
Youth is a window measured in days
(So bask in the rays)
Form a line up the blind alley
What kind of visions are these?
When you see what they see?
The deck is stacked
Doing time you can never get back
Is it self help?
To help yourself
To someone else's
peace of mind?
How can you hold another in darkness
And stand in the light?
Been staring at the sun so long
By the time you look away you’re blind
New York city is a charnel ground
A wound that blooms and claws the sky
Might makes right, it’s the market price
They’ll toss you on the street to die
What would it take to lose your life today?
Seeking shelter in a public space?
It’s a dangerous place, these United States