there’s a leftover hand
on the roadside
something someone lost
in the fierce fight overnight

the insurrection
takes some folks’ lives and everyone’s peace
left a smoke pall over the streets
it’s scary and sweet
in some ways exactly what was needed
we’ve conceded that

already moving on to today’s daylight war
no question that we know what we’re fighting for
there are babies crying today who were crying yesterday
crying comes with our territory — that’s all
there is to say about that –

flat out busted broke
no chance to make it
bosses above with the power to break it open
but they hold the money back and
so we take the chance and crack a gasoline cocktail
against a window and toss a bullet at their heads

if it seems like more of us end up dead
that’s not anything we didn’t expect
it’s just a piled up body count — we die all the time
fly against the system that keeps us out

our babies cry all the time anyway
might as well get it over with and hope that some day
all this blood will wash away the stain of oppression
wash away with a red river the ongoing depression
that holds us down
free the weight we need to throw around
and smash and grab and take what we’re owed
from the hands of those who blow hot and cold
about rights and opportunities that never seem to knock
they talk and talk
no wonder we’re reaching for rocks
and bombs and knives and guns and fire
raise the banner high, the red tide higher

but
coming home carefully
hiding from the weapons of those we fight
I see that leftover hand someone lost overnight
think about who might not be holding their child tonight

if this is worth doing
we will need to do it right — fight
like angels knowing the cost but believing in the cause
because there’s going to be blood whether we fight or flee
it’s a question of dying slave or dying free

leftover parts tell the story of the war
a lot of broken people bearing witness
to the witless nature of what you sometimes have to do
to change things when it becomes too much to take

if a wall’s too high to scale
sometimes it has to break