A short, short time ago…
I can still remember
How that promise had given me hope.
I just knew if he’d had the chance
He would change this circumstance
And, maybe, we’d all find the strength to cope.
But soon all your words made me shiver,
With every speech that you’d deliver.
Bad moves up on the hill:
Turns out you’re just one more shill.
I knew the truly callous smiled
As you had him killed there before his child
Then with your call for precrime trial,
I broke free of your beguile…
So good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
Knowing that was the day that the hope died.
That was the day that the hope died.
Did you read the Patriot Act,
Before keeping that shit on its track?
Or just act as if you did?
Can you not see this route’s taken toll?
We were never meant to play this role,
We believed you’d no agenda’s hid!
Well, we know more now, than we did then,
And you can bet we won’t buy it again.
You’ve crossed too many lines,
For us to trust you one more time.
I was a hope filled bright-eyed optimist
After Bush reigned with a tyrant’s fist,
I just knew, you’d not be like this,
But now, that hope has died.
I’ve started thinking,
“Good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
Knowing that was the day that the hope died.
That was the day that the hope died.”
Now for three years we’ve been on our own
You’ve allowed cuts down to the bone,
Exactly like it used to be.
When the jester left, we all cried for change
You sold us all when you took the reigns
With a voice that made us all believe.
Oh, but while we looked the other way,
The jester’s will still won the day.
The courtroom was bypassed
So no questions would be asked.
And as Machiavelli played his part
We knew the change would never start,
And we sang dirges for your heart,
The day that the hope died.
We were singing,
“Good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
Knowing that was the day that the hope died.
That was the day that the hope died.”
Healthcare, welfare, and veteran’s fair share
Compromised seemingly without a care
The people’s voice still heard last.
You keep failing the lower class
While the corporate sector gets a pass,
Like the jester never moved into the past.
Now the withdrawal call would be more grand
With no reroute to Afghanistan
We want to celebrate,
But you’re a buck short and day late!
Cause the suits bought more priority,
Interest groups fought equality,
And you stood by so idly
The day that the hope died.
I’ve started thinking,
“Good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
Knowing that was the day that the hope died.
That was the day that the hope died.”
It’s fair to say we all stood as one,
A generation lost and numb
With no desire to fight again.
We held on, fast to reason, past the quick
As Jack’s lack of conviction slipped
And we found it was the fire, we were in.
Oh, and as I watch you take the stage
My hands, they clench in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Will release us from this spell.
And as the siren’s cry, it splits the night
Drone’s fly, to kill everything in sight,
You stand proud and claim we’re in the right
The day that the hope died.
And I’m singing,
“Good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
Knowing that was the day that the hope died.
That was the day that the hope died.”
I met a girl who campaigned for you
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
So I went out on the interwebs
To see what news I had not read,
But the man ruled indy news no longer play.
And in the streets, the children die…
The poor get crushed, and the dreamers cry…
And not a word gets spoken…
For the people all are broken.
And I made my way back to those words
That touched me deeply when they were heard
But nothing at all in me stirred,
The day that the hope died…
And so I’m thinking,
“Good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
And that was the day that the hope died.
That was the day that the hope died.”
And now I’m singing,
“Good-bye, your promise was a lie.
We were restrained thinking that change
Would just rain from the sky.
But we woke realizing wool had been pulled over our eyes
Knowing that was the day that the hope died.”
(5/30/11)
