Christian Piatt Blog

Revolution
 
Be a new voice of the revolution,
Not just a pawn of the institution,
Standing up strong against persecution,
Making more meaningful contributions.
Let’s unravel this convolution
Of justice that leads to more confusion
About what’s real and what’s illusion,
Come, be a part of the revolution.
 
Who am I to stand up against the face of power?
Who are you to tell me I’ve got to sit back down?
Who am I to question figures of authority and
Who are you to pull my feet back to the ground?

 
This is not a test.
This is not a drill.
This demonstration of lyrical skill
Flowing like a toxic spill
Growing like a landfill
With my tongue as my quill,
We will distill this will until
It fills our souls,
Tramples the traces
Of indifference from faces,
Filling empty spaces, seeking graces
From higher places.
 
Be a new voice of the revolution,
Not just a pawn of the institution,
Standing up strong against persecution,
Making more meaningful contributions.
Let’s unravel this convolution
Of justice that leads to more confusion
About what’s real and what’s illusion,
Come, be a part of the revolution.

  
Who am I to live a faith of radical justice?
Who are you live in fear instead of trust this?
Who am I to bring new life to a dying planet?
Who are you to carve your rules in slabs of granite?

This is not a dream.
This is not a joke.
This demonstration of collective will
Starting quiet, then growing shrill,
Like following Elijah up the hill
Once you have seen you cannot sit still.
Truth grabs your mind,
Where once, you were blind,
You see a new design,
Seek and you shall find,
But once found, won’t be left behind.

Be a new voice of the revolution,
Not just a pawn of the institution,
Standing up strong against persecution,
Making more meaningful contributions.
Let’s unravel this convolution
Of justice that leads to more confusion
About what’s real and what’s illusion,
Come, be a part of the revolution.

Resist

Resist the urge to splurge
Instead of purge,
Hold back the surge
Of materialism,
Fueled by rabid capitalism
That builds for you a prison
Of desire, barbed wire
Touched with the fire of lust for “more.”
Simplify, ask “Why should I have
A tenth pair of shoes
When others have none?
Or a gas-guzzling monster, just for fun
While others bleed oil at the point of a gun?

 
Resist the urge to stay silent,
When the world’s violent powers
Rain down showers of fire
On innocents, mired in poverty,
Abandoned by liberty
And by those who refuse to see
Reality, yet go to church on bended knee
Thanking God for what’s given to me.

 
Resist the urge to accept
When secrets are kept,
Told to no one except
The powerful, privileged, prosperous few.
Question authority.
Go beyond the majority.
Stand up for the minority.
Use your power for the powerless.
Give hope to the hopeless,
Voice to the voiceless.
Refuse to accept less
Take no rest ‘till we’re all blessed

Resist your own resistance,
Your desire for distance
From the pressing persistence
Of poverty, hunger, genocide,
The great divide of the classes,
The freezing, huddled masses
Whose cardboard homes we pass as
We walk on by, and try to deny
We’ve seen anything but Christ himself
In their eyes.

Resist the A-list mentality,
The elitist banality
Of a superficial reality.
Know your own worth,
You, this blessing from birth,
Created of earth and divine breath,
Bigger than death, a vessel of grace,
No matter your clothing labels,
How well you know your times tables,
Or can’t even afford basic cable.
These fables of false value
Forever shall you shed, setting your head
On a higher course, a greater goal,
Put a twist on power’s fist.
Force it open, reach it out,
To those we’ve missed,
Whom privilege has not yet kissed,
Though others insist
You’re a hopeless idealist,
Resist.