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Posted by Martha

Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer-found by Molly

Me and all my friends We're all misunderstood They say we stand for nothing and There's no way we ever could

Now we see everything that's going wrong With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don't have the means To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting Waiting on the world to change We keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system When we're standing at a distance So we keep waiting Waiting on the world to change

Now if we had the power To bring our neighbors home from war They would have never missed a Christmas No more ribbons on their door And when you trust your television What you get is what you got Cause when they own the information, oh They can bend it all they want

That's why we're waiting Waiting on the world to change We keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change

It's not that we don't care, We just know that the fight ain't fair So we keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change

And we're still waiting Waiting on the world to change We keep on waiting waiting on the world to change One day our generation Is gonna rule the population So we keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change

Greysons posted poem PROTEST POEM

April shines its sales pitch at us, unpacks from the endless unfolding of its dazzle a sharp repeated thonk-someone driving

a spike somewhere, or some ungodly tennis match, metal racket whacking metal ball: the signature of a gruesome

steely sweet-spot vibrates among the alcoves, sounding so much farther away than it is it takes us a while to gather

that the origin of the echo is here, just outside our class on metaphor. There, quite plainly, a crow hammers a plain

tuft of black and cinnamon fur--simply knocks, it takes us a while to see, hard at the shell of a rabbit's peach-pit brain.

Just before, inside, a solid majority identified a whiff of dishonesty in the vagaries of image, all this fancy-pants

indirection. Why don't they just say what they mean? Feeling shouldn't require thinking, nor expression

patience. Look at the time we wasted chasing the origin of that horrid sound. As though the chase might

teach us something. Why reproduce the runaround, the fact that, literally, the sound made here,

in the center of the bright complacencies of spring, came to us only through reverberations off distant surfaces? Why,

if you only want to say something simple about the badness of a faraway war, go through all this rigamarole?

Posted by dave

=Thus sang the troubadour= Coming from behind the sea of Atlas Ships laden with cargoes of death Hearts full of purulence Minds that never cared about a soul Led by the new Agamemnon To smash Troy that never kidnapped Helen Joy has been stripped off Sadness hovered over the place The vigilant watchman is sleeping with a whore To live or to die is the same For they both lost a meaning The mad man in our village could not answer Why we had to commit suicide And give a cold shoulder to the godless heaven Arabs of bad blood gave Agamemnon the sands Ferdinand de Lesseps resurrected again Had a toast of champagne with the new Pasha Waved for the scum of the earth Crossing Suez canal to the desert of Arabia Sheikhs of Arabia drinking mugs of espresso Whispered in each other`s ears the news from Cheney Had a few words with the devil`s advocate And decided to say “NO” while their “YES” had already pushed the button The rains in Kirkuk washed the gloom of the earth But rainbow never showed up For the red prevailed It is war, carrying an obsession of mongers Many men will die, sang the troubadour, Arabs Kurds Torkomans Many men will die March was an eye witness And its nineteenth was the first to burn. My little sister woke up in the early morning She said Mrs. Mallaby of the yesterday's bedtime story Met her in a dream and was all alone In her hundredth birthday, There was no post card No birthday cake with hundred candles No umbrella for the rainy Sundays No kitten mewed at her door. March was an eye witness And its nineteenth was the first to burn. Apache Cluster bombs Scud missiles White phosphorous Were all death retailers in Mesopotamia The little Umm Qasr under the flame Reminded us of Leningrad Sweeping the young dead bodies with a broom Making heaps of souls Preparing a meal for the ravens Shock and Awe quaked the earth Buttons unleashed death into the eyes That is enough, said my friend and shut the radio off, Tell them, I said to him Tell them we had enough Death Shock Awe Tell them the Tigris had enough bodies of assassinated dreams Euphrates vomited the sense of clarity Shatt-al-Arab wept the death of the palm trees The Gulf engulfed all the bitterness Hugged the two rivers Buried the bodies of the dead Washed their blood off the salty beaches And listened to the troubadour Who was still singing, Many men will die. Many men will die. March was an eye witness, And its nineteenth was the first to burn.

Million Man March Poem Maya Angelou Brigid The night has been long, The wound has been deep, The pit has been dark, And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach, I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach. Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound, You couldn't even call out my name. You were helpless and so was I, But unfortunately throughout history You've worn a badge of shame.

I say, the night has been long, The wound has been deep, The pit has been dark And the walls have been steep.

But today, voices of old spirit sound Speak to us in words profound, Across the years, across the centuries, Across the oceans, and across the seas. They say, draw near to one another, Save your race. You have been paid for in a distant place, The old ones remind us that slavery's chains Have paid for our freedom again and again.

The night has been long, The pit has been deep, The night has been dark, And the walls have been steep.

The hells we have lived through and live through still, Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will. The night has been long. This morning I look through your anguish Right down to your soul. I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole. I look through the posture and past your disguise, And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.

I say, clap hands and let's come together in this meeting ground, I say, clap hands and let's deal with each other with love, I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference, Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearts, Let us come together and revise our spirits, Let us come together and cleanse our souls, Clap hands, let's leave the preening And stop impostering our own history. Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge, Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation, Courtesy into our bedrooms, Gentleness into our kitchen, Care into our nursery.

The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain We are a going-on people who will rise again.

And still we rise.

America Poem - Posted by Sarah, by Tom McMurry. America, Come home. You, who personify's beauty in her liberty, beware. A virus rides the ripples of the riddled breeze you breathe. A youthful breeze can weave a subtle strand of danger round your pride till wound around you.

Another Poem posted by Sarah, by Julia Ward Howe:

The Flag There's a flag hangs over my threshold, whose folds are more dear to me  Than the blood that thrills in my bosom its earnest of liberty; And dear are the stars it harbors in its sunny field of blue As the hope of a further heaven that lights all our dim lives through.

But now should my guests be merry, the house is in holiday guise, Looking out, through its burnished windows like a score of welcoming eyes. Come hither, my brothers who wander in saintliness and in sin! Come hither, ye pilgrims of Nature! my heart doth invite you in.

My win is not of the choicest, yet bears it an honest brand; And the bread that I bid you lighten I break with no sparing hand; But pause, ere you pass to taste it, one act must accomplished be: Salute the flag in its virtue, before ye sit down with me.

The flag of our stately battles, not struggles of wrath and greed: Its stripes were a holy lesson, its spangles a deathless creed; 'Twas red with the blood of freemen, and white with the fear of the foe, And the stars that fight in their courses 'gainst tyrants its symbols know.

Come hither, thou son of my mother! we were reared in the selfsame arms; Thou hast many a pleasant gesture, thy mind hath its fights and charms, But my heart is as stern to question as mine eyes are of sorrows full: Salute the flag in its virtue, or pass on where others rule.

Thou lord of a thousand acres, with heaps of uncounted gold, The steeds of thy stall are haughty, thy lackeys cunning and bold: I envy no jot of thy splendor, I rail at thy follies none: Salute the flag in its virtue, or leave my poor house alone.

Fair lady with silken trappings, high waving thy stainless plume, We welcome thee to our numbers, a flower of costliest bloom: Let a hundred maids live widowed to furnish thy bridal bed; But pause where the flag doth question, and bend thy triumphant head.

Take down now your flaunting banner, for a scout comes breathless and pale, With the terror death upon him; of failure is all his tale: 'They have fled while the flag waved o'er them! they have turned to the foe their back! They are scattered, pursued, and slaughtered! the fields are all rout and wrack!'

Pass hence, then, the friends I gathered, a goodly company! All ye that have manhood in you, go, perish for Liberty! But I and the babes God gave me will wait with uplifted hearts, With the firm smile ready to kindle, and the will to perform our parts.

When the last true heart lies bloodless, when the fierce and the false have won, I'll press in turn to my bosom each daughter and either son; Bid them loose the flag from its bearings, and we'll lay us down to rest With the glory of home about us, and its freedom locked in our breast.

//Let America be America again// by Langston Hughes -posted by Andrés

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!

O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

code I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed--

I, too, am America. code - Tupac Shakur posted by ifeanyi excuse me but lady liberty needs glasses and so does mrs justice by her side both the broads r blind as bats stumbling thru the system justice bumbed into mutulu and trippin on geronimo pratt but stepped right over oliver and his crooked partner ronnie

justice stubbed her big toe on mandela and liberty was misquoted by the indians slavery was a learning phase forgotten with out a verdict while justice is on a rampage 4 endangered surviving black males i mean really if anyone really valued life and cared about the masses theyd take em both 2 pen optical and get 2 pair of glasses

Greysons inspirational song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On8WE48zWVQ

THis isn't exactly hopeful, but its a poem with a political statement that i like, its by Jim Morrison (DAve) Dead cats, dead rats Can’t see what they were at, all right Dead cat in a top hat, wow Sucking on the young man’s blood Wishing he could come, yeah Sucking on the soldier’s brain Wishing it would be the same

Dead cat, dead rat Can’t you see what they were at? Fat cat in a top hat Thinks he’s an aristocrat Thinks he can kill and slaughter Thinks he can shoot my daughter

Yeah right! oh yeah! Oh right! yeeah!

Dead cats, dead rats Think they’re an aristocrat Crap, now that’s crap!

here's the hopeful oneit's by stevie wonder

People keep on learnin' Soldiers keep on warrin' World keep on turnin' Cause it won't be too long

Powers keep on lyin' While your people keep on dyin' World keep on turnin' Cause it won't be too long

I'm so darn glad he let me try it again Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then Gonna keep on tryin' Till I reach the highest ground

Teachers keep on teachin' Preachers keep on preachin' World keep on turnin' Cause it won't be too long Oh no

Lovers keep on lovin' Believers keep on believin' Sleepers just stop sleepin' Cause it won't be too long Oh no

I'm so glad that he let me try it again Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then Gonna keep on tryin' Till I reach my highest ground...Whew! Till I reach my highest ground No one's gonna bring me down Oh no Till I reach my highest ground Don't you let nobody bring you down (they'll sho 'nuff try) God is gonna show you higher ground He's the only friend you have around

**Hope ****by Emily Bronte – Posted by Sarah **   Hope was but a timid friend;  She sat without the grated den,  Watching how my fate would tend,  Even as selfish-hearted men.   She was cruel in her fear;  Through the bars, one dreary day,  I looked out to see her there,  And she turned her face away!   Like a false guard, false watch keeping,  Still, in strife, she whispered peace; <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> She would sing while I was weeping; <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> If I listened, she would cease. <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> False she was, and unrelenting; <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> When my last joys strewed the ground, <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Even Sorrow saw, repenting, <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Those sad relics scattered round; <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Hope, whose whisper would have given <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Balm to all my frenzied pain, <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> Stretched her wings, and soared to heaven, <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">Went, and ne'er returned again! <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-family: ArialMT; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ArialMT; mso-bidi-language: EN-US;">