I was born during the Tet Offensive
\nWhen the mighty Americanos
\nLearned what Sun Tzu knew
\nAbout playing in another team’s Backyard.
\nA year before Neal Armstrong
\nProved that there was nowhere
\nMankind could not despoil
\nLeaving a trail of trash
\nIn its wake.
\nWe watched both on a little box
\nIn GLORIOUS Technicolor
\nBringing the future kicking and
\nScreaming into the present
\nPast a collective wide-eyed awe
\nFast becoming jaded as
\nHorror and wonder both
\nBecame entertainment.
\nHappy myths such as
\nLunar green cheese
\nAnd a just war
\nJoined bobby-socks and
\nRumble seats in a naive world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Writers could spin but
\nPictures couldn’t lie,
\nRight?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We saw what we were shown
\nAnd believed it all.
\nIt was a dark time
\nIf you can’t believe your eyes
\nIf your eyes see lies –
\nWell, I believe in Beatles
\nOr maybe scarabs
\nAs our view of Arabs switched from
\nHappy Indiana Jonesian Egyptians
\nTo sky-writing high-flyers
\nIn the blink of an eye
\nOr snap of a shutter
\nAs this latest fear mongering
\nIs brought to you by
\nSlippy Peanut Butter –
\nThe choice of a New Generation
\nOr germination as the seeds of
\nMistrust are planted just below
\nThe surface.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was conceived during
\nThe Summer of Love
\nAnd sprang forth, fully-armoured
\nDuring a new year of war
\nBecause Summer always gives way
\nTo the Fall and
\nLove to Pride
\nAs the flowers fall from our hair
\nAnd the girl from the North Country Fair
\nSports a page-boy
\nAnd looks at me like
\nShe can guess my name.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If it’s all the same
\nI want a do-over.
\nRed Rover, Red Rover
\nI call a sense of optimism over
\nOr freedom, or even just
\nSunshine on a cloudy day
\nBecause sometimes, every day is
\nCloudy.
\nWhen the desire to stand
\nAnd be counted means
\nBeing like Tommie Smith and John Carlos
\nPut up your fist if all you want is…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was born during a 5-day sit-in at
\nHoward University
\nA week after the Mai Lai Massacre<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was born two weeks before
\nMartin Luther King Jr. paid the
\nUltimate price for asking for a
\nLittle justice.<\/p>\n
I dreamed a little dream of peace
\nOf pieces of a broken world
\nBuilt on a crumbling foundation
\nAs all pretence is dropped
\nAnd instead of fights for rights
\nWe have squabbles over pay-outs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was born during a time of war
\nI was born during a time of potential
\nI was born during a time of death
\nAnd birth
\nAnd principles
\nAnd desire
\nAnd a movement
\nAnd revolution and evolution in collusion<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I was born by the river
\nIn a little tent
\nI was born just in time
\nBecause a change IS gonna come
\nAnd I want to be here to see it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n