America - The Nightmare And The Dream Poem by Alonso Menendez

Part One - The Nightmare

America
Amerika
Ameri-k-k-ka

America has not been America for so long
Bastion of justice, righter of wrong
All those principles taught to me
Of truth, freedom, and equality
Somehow seem hollow to me
As I look to our history
The hypocrisy
Of this democracy
Where the masses follow the few
Who manipulate with money, telling everyone what to do
And in this quest for money and control
These puppeteers have sold their soul
To the faceless god of the industrial machine
Who destroys all that it finds pristine
And in it's own tortured image remolds
So all it's children it's madness holds

Giant claws of razor sharp steel
Tear at the Earth making her feel
Pain as ground and trees are stripped away
Leaving a debt for generations to pay
Compounded with interest by there own future misdeeds
Into toxic waste deserts where even more destruction breeds

The beast's body is covered in blood soaked armor
From the children it devours as it feeds on war
America there is not one generation you have not asked to fight
Disguising profit motive and power plays as doing what's right
This is Moloch of Ginsberg fame
Moloch the god of blood is its claim

People seeking life free and good
Brought the beast with them on ships of wood
Under the feet of its people they discovered this land
Offering peace with a gun in the hand
Slaughtering those inconveniently in the way
The smell of death clouds that bright new day
That brought the machine into this place
Making glory out of disgrace
The baptism of metal and blood
Fertilizing the land with bodies in the mud

This same unholy metal brought a people in chains
To dominate their bodies as well as their brains
Their lives offered to the profit god in sacrifice
On the alter where the blood is never suffice
Stripping away culture and pride
Leaving an uncaring system in which to hide
This is bad karma, no possible reparation
No giving back what was taken in the building of this nation

Besides the machine offers no apologies
Solely devises new strategies
To divide through race, creed, or sexual preference
Gender, confusion, or even verbal reference
Anything to maintain the climate of fear
For this leads to power if you know how to steer

So the anti-narco nazis are on patrol
Devouring our civil rights to keep control
Marching down corridors cold and gray
Lined by machine metal cages where locked away
Are those blamed for the ills of society
Weeding out these malcontents where ever they be
Keeping us divided so we can't see
The machine is the true enemy

Hence this is from where stems the confusion
For there has been a mass public relations illusion
Using words to carve the image of a righteous nation
Indoctrinating through compulsory miseducation
Then taking those who would seek more
Debt incurred for the knowledge they're seeking for
A devils deal for what should be free
But knowledge is power is how things be

So into the folds they are drawn by the machine
That their true fires may not be seen
After being raised by the system
Educated by the system
They are indebted to the system
To take the place laid out by the system

Into the meat grinder they go
With everyone else to make some dough
Teach them to need what they want
That when they lack the feeling does haunt
Give credit cards for the need to fill
Get it now and later you can pay the bill
A little each month for the rest of your days
A pawn in the game that the beast plays
Work them, work them, work them like slaves
Keep them busy till they're in their graves
Wear them out with the daily grind
So the only desire is to numb the mind

Tell-lies-vision, the perfect control
As we sit and watch, it absorbs the soul
Rabbit ears to cable to direct satellite
Perfecting the zombie, making it right
666 channels of shit to choose
All on demand, not a moment to lose
Tell-lies-vision the opiate of the people
Far more effective than that of the steeple

There are far more people watching TV each day
Than there are people who go to church and pray
But of course where there's money there's accommodation
So there's always church via TV station
Tell-lies-vision send in your contribution
Just another part of the institution

Salvation bought and sold
Thirty pieces of silver turn to peace signs of gold
Tie-dyes made by machine
It's time to sell that hippie dream
So ideals devoured by profit motive
And Woodstock was lit like a candle votive
Once Rome burned as Nero played violin
Now it seems Rome burns again
To the soundtrack of the Chili Peppers playing "Fire"
The destruction expanding, flames growing higher
Violence and anger vomited up from the food of self-doubt
All the result of the dream sold out

In this world of push comes to shove
It's easier to hate than it is to love
And so to school a kid brings a gun
Shooting his classmates then himself when he's done
Then everyone innocent wondering why
Is it not obvious this was a desperate cry?

A square peg in a round hole
Trying to escape the machines control
Before it is hammered into submission
Brought into the fold by corporate vision
Individuality stripped away
Names written in blood are there to stay

Has not enough blood been spilled?
Have not enough of your children been killed?
America when will you overstand
That this was not part of God's plan
Just a part of your own great delusion
That everyone buys into the illusion
Of chasing down the American dream
But inside I feel the madness scream!

Part 2 - The Dream

America
America
America the beautiful
To whose ideal i am dutiful
For each man by his creator is endowed
With certain rights that cannot be disavowed
And among these rights are life, liberty and happiness' pursuit
A truth so self-evident that there can be no possible dispute

That all men are created equal is the at heart of this declaration
And it is only to secure these rights that government is created for the nation
And if one day the government should become destructive towards those ends
It shall be altered or abolished by the people on whose existence it depends

We are America, we are the country
It's power is derived from you and me
This is the dream as i was taught
But as i look around i see it not
It feels like we are living in a nightmare
Where the only thing for which people care
Is for themselves and the money to be made
All that matters is how much we are paid

While blood is spilled in foreign lands
And oil washes up on our coastal sands
With no regard for tomorrow and beyond
Where are those who would dare respond?

The moral compass has gone askew
What does it mean to be red white and blue?
When i was young i was taught to sing
Proclaiming to all to let freedom ring
So tell me where is that freedom now?
Is it to buy and sell and trade on the dow?
What about we who are living day by day?
It seems that there must be a better way
A life measured by more than status and money
Living in the promised land of milk an honey

Sadly the truth is that sometimes life is not fair
And there will be times that shall lead to despair
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation
Beaten to submission by years of frustration
But it doesn't have to be like this
There is a way across the abyss

The path is there to be found if you believe
Only we set the limits on what we achieve
Gandhi once said be the change you wish to see
So i guess now it all comes down to you and me
To wake up from the nightmare and live the dream
And be better than those who would plot and scheme

It's time for us to take a stand
And show that this is our land
Both those born here and those who come
America is for all no matter where from

We the people as in the constitution
Are for which it stands this institution
The Bill of Rights is not just for our citizenry
It is a minimum standard in defense of dignity
That cannot be revoked when it is convenient to do so
It is the greatness of this country that these rights we bestow

Lets take back the government from the corporations
And we can become a beacon to the nations
Exporting peace and respect instead of war
Food not bombs is what we should stand for
And though it seemed so phony and trite
When Bush Sr. spoke of 1000 points of light
I close my eyes and the lights i can see
Hope for freedom, justice and equality

Like MLK Jr. I have a dream
That we can end the nightmare scream
And each person by their character be judged
Not by skin color, religion or sexuality begrudged
Justice with compassion offered equally
Regardless of ones standing financially

My parents came from a tortured land
Fleeing oppression on the island sand
Then in this country i was born and raised
So it would fill me with pride to see it be praised
Instead of the reasons to complain and criticize
That i fear will ultimately lead to our demise

Our salvation is to be found in our ideal
What we were taught we can make real
Striving to be the best we can be
By seeking to expand our humanity
Unlocking the prisons through rehabilitation
Opening up the doors through education
Dismantling the cogs of the police state
A higher purpose that will make us great
And though we cannot erase the sins of the past
We can still leave a legacy destined to last
That puts into perspective our history
Of a journey taken towards harmony

The myth we can perpetuate or the dream we can live
All depends how on our allegiance we give
It is possible that Moloch be slain for once and all
We need only deny him when we hear his call
We must vanquish the beast to the nightmares forever gone
The last sacrifice on the alter he was honored on
Then we shall weep tears in the midst of victory
As we remember those who died for country
Victims of the bloody beast
On whose bodies he did feast

America, either love it or leave it is often said
So i love it and stay but my conscience is not dead
My love does not blind me when we are wrong
To ignore our our flaws does not make us strong
It only means we refuse to see
How we can be a better country
By recognizing the error of our ways
So the same doesn't happen in future days

Never be afraid to express your mind
And speak out against the wrong you find
Go to the streets and protest for a cause
Take a stand against unjust laws

I show my love for my country
By making it live up to it's possibility
And if each one of us does what all we can do
Then the American dream will finally come true.