Distant Thunder

© 2021

Now I live alone, with my family in a tumble-down brownstone
Somewhere between the suburbs and the jewel of the city
My birthdate’s unknown but my neighbours do know me
From the sound of my saxophone – sometimes cool, but sometimes when I practise…
…it ain’t so pretty…

And now we’re all wearing masks and bearing our daily tasks
And hiding in our caves at night waiting for the next viral storm
Power providers switch off the power and no one dares ask
How we’re supposed to keep our children warm
Racketeering so-called democrats, profiteering fat cats
Engineering ways to make-shift votes into currency
Sneering bureaucrats, blame the sale of meat from bats
And gift absolute isolation to the centre of the city

And my dear I wonder whether maybe we’ve all been misinformed
And I can hear the thunder is it an earthquake , or the bombs or a distant storm

Junkies in the next room, who’ll do most anything
Just to get the next fix, they’ll take my arm for my watch or wedding ring,
Muggers in the subway, who wait for anyone who can’t run too fast and
Killers in the alleyway reach for guns as I try to sneak past
Cripples in the hallway who’ll do it to themselves so they can better beg for a bite
And young girls near the hotels who’ll do everything if you pay for a warm bed for the night
…just for one night

Every day I see too many things that make me want to go to sleep at night for forever
But I can’t help to wake up and take and kiss your face through your make up and make love together

Drunkards on the freeway, playing road-games with other people’s lives
Drugged retards on the beltway try to block your way with cars, guns and knives
Falsifying lawyers double-dealing ‘Accessory-Before-The-Fact’ and
Waltzing employers who’ve no trouble stealing through your contract
Bullshit on the airways advertising how you can get rich quick, and the
Bandits on Youtube who say you can make a mill for a benji and a double click
…just a Benji and double click

Every night I wake in fright, shake the light, think someone might come and try to take us… out
But mostly I fall back to sleep, I pack a cheap stolen gun, if they try to take my son, I got no doubt…

Hypocrites on television, chat-shows and newscasts
Counterfeits and lickety-splits and brown-nosing podcasts
Cesspit case history education messing up your childrens’ brains
Retrofit (sick Critical Race Theory’) discrimination fessing up on slaves in chains
Smiling physicians repositing your kids’ sexuality
Lying politicians promising the end of inequality

The end of all inequality… Ha!