How do we make sense of the world now? How do we tell apart the critical from the trivial The mundane from the vibrant The upsetting from the uplifting?
How much did it take to numb you down? Dumb us down? Turn the wrinkles from smiles Into worry and frowns? The questions. Why?
Confusion. How could this be? Are we the nomads, bewildered? Wandering with eyes open But hardly seeing or believing?
Maybe we fall victim To forces bigger than ourselves
Then again,
Maybe there was a time We didn’t have to ask these questions About life and death Outside our clan
There was no time we had to fight For the economic weight Of a coral reef Or educating girls
Maybe we’re born to fight battles Extending longer than our lives
Maybe ours here Was a culture of acceptance Of the way things were
Well maybe that privilege Is a thing of the past
And all of us ought to speak A little more loudly For the things we’ve thought silently To ourselves For so long
Maybe it’s time again To stand for values
And put the vision forward Of a world that works for me And for you And us all