PARADIGM By Tom Jensen
There's no such thing
As wasting time
When you are trying
To design the paradigm
Can you be the one
Who helps mold mankind?
Behold that role's
Not so well-defined
Yet it truly
Doesn't take a mastermind
To really blow someone else's mind
Crawling through no man's land
Holding onto your brother's hand
Helping him to stay alive
As you both try to survive
In between the battle lines
My job is to show you
All that there is to see
And to tell you that what is
Is not how it is supposed to be
Please believe in me...
I startled a man in the street
Simply by saying hello
He said,
"Hey kid, stop bothering me!"
Doesn't he know
I have a college degree?
And that I've been known
To write a little poetry
And create a new history
By unlocking that old mystery
Through my literacy?
"Can't there be someone else
You can follow?"
That's what he said to me
His brown eyes were hollow
Thus I retreated in sorrow
Just another who failed to see
That he just might have been
Bettered by me
Forgetting we're all one
In the global family
We all evolved from
The same family tree
Used to crawl around on all fours
Just like a monkey or a junkie
Your background
Your skin tone
Your color
Your race...
No one's ever asked your preference
You know you can't choose your face
And as you see your reflection
You realize that in difference
Here lies the root of hate
So let us end this great debate
Over this city-less state...
We can agree to disagree
I no longer wish to participate
Just as equality waits...
So does our fate