The New Wild West

"The New Wild West"


You see the ghost of the buffalo
moving both fierce and slow
Like glittering prophesies
on the edge of the horizon

As you drive glittering highways
and beaten-up byways
That straddle and girdle
our great and many-faced nation

You see the lambs in the ghettos
who worship their Gepettos
Believing in, never seeing,
the strings they think bind them

So we write to our congressmen
with bleeding pens of the sorrow within
And in return,
they just send tickets
to the latest Tom Hanks show

Welcome to the new wild west
Each man for himself
A nation of civilized steeples
And lonely people
Welcome to the new wild west

There are so many factions
and cue-card reactions
It's hard to keep clear
the possibilities here
'cause there's no force to unite them

Privilege has ruled
for thousands of years
Wars have been fought
with bibles and tears

Yet liberation can't deny
the temptation
and soon becomes the oppressor
Show me a leader
who's fit to lead
Who don't sow his seed
in anything wounded enough to breed
Because after all,
what fun is power
if you can't act like a rock star?

As for me,
I've been petty
Oh, and unkind,
but I know my own mind

And since it seems clear
there's no one leading us here
The only thing left it appears
is to task ourselves
to be better each time,
than those before us

We'll be an army of thieves,
of self-freed slaves,
of mild-mannered maids
We'll fight with whispers and blades
So get ready,
a new day is dawning

Jewel