Smoke and Ashes

Copyright © 2009 Ernest Bloom.

The last echo's faded from the evening's final song
The applause is all over and the audience has gone
They lower the lights, sweep out any lingering trace of delight
The world's been burnt down to smoke and ashes tonight

Injustices you witnessed spurred you to bold activity
Now you stare back at yourself from dark mirrors of exclusivity
The ground seems so distant from such spectacular height
The world's been burnt down to smoke and ashes tonight

They say no man's saddled with any more weight than he can bear
They say you'll get what you need but they never tell you where
No mentors can guide you when chaos supplants all the rules
All the happiest songs are written by the most fatuous fools

Everything you believed in was systematically stolen away
By bandits in courtrooms and the wolfish games that they play
With no place to go you sit motionless at the traffic light
The world's been burnt down to smoke and ashes tonight
And you know that it's wrong but some things can't be made right
The world's been burnt down to smoke and ashes tonight