Freedom is not free-
men still rule the world
despite Beyonce’s song.
The unjust still controls society-
politicians, criminals, gangs, economists
they’re all the same.
They lie, they cheat, they steal all our dreams away.
Scarfing our money like paper shredders
and promising justice, when all we get are
empty glasses.

Freedom is not free-
poverty still reigns supreme.
Urban, rural its all the same.
We watch them walk the lonely streets,
scraggled and hobbled
from their broken dreams.
Little children lurk amongst the shadows,
illiterate, illogical and all alone.
Their clothes are torn, shoes rotted through.
They hide in cardboard boxes while we
stroll into Nordstrom or JC Pennys.

Freedom is not free
when civilizations are still
destroying each other.
Men shooting other men,
raping and assaulting women and children.
Monsters ravage villages, burning and
pillaging as they go,
but these demons have no horns, no tail
or scarlet skin.
They are white, black, brown and yellow,
blue-eyed, brown-eyed, green-eyed, gray-eyed
human beings. And they could be one of you or me,
except for one thing…
the machine guns that burn their pockets
smoking and billowing steadily.

Freedom is not free,
but I still have a dream that it will be.