Ballots and Bullets (Choosing Sides)

A song I wrote trying to show the difference between what one believes to be right and what may actually be right and that they aren't always the same.

Ballots and Bullets

(Choosing Sides)

 

The hoarfrost chilled the coming dawn,

Muffling the crack of the firing squad.

A plebian lout spat in scorn;

Contempt for the condemned's dying words.

A mother's disgust turns her head,

While her son imitates the violence

That will control all his future,

'Til the voice of a dead child is heard.

 

Chorus:

He said,

"From the ballot to the bullet,

From the reform to the riot,

A people's opinion means naught

If they won't stand and fight for it!

Though the pen holds truth of the word,

Blood shall spill by the sword (exacting it).

A nation's belief means nothing

If they won't live and die for it!".

 

I sat alone and peered outside,

Gazing between the cracks in the bars

At the execution below,

Waiting for the day my turn would come.

My heart weighed heavy at this sight

And through the chilling December air

I heard opinions I had taught

From the man that the child had become.

 

Chorus: (Repeat)

 

As the sun set, the crowd dispersed.

I scratched another mark on the wall.

A startling thought ran through my mind,

"Were the marks my time or the victims

Created through my vanity";

And then suddenly I realized,

As insanity destroyed me,

I'd become the infected system.

 

Ending:

We are all protagonist to our own cause

But the antagonist must have his own.

To be a hero one must look at both sides

Without prejudice, or you may choose wrong.

 

Legion

5Dec93

Reviews

[spence]

I totally feel this one legion. I love intelligent song lyrics, (I'm a bad religion fan), and this is very well thought out. Remaining objective while in the heat of the moment is nigh on impossible and, imo, accounts for the majority of recruitment to 'freedom fighting' and/or 'terrorist' factions- as they are subject to much the same motivation. It just depends which side of the fence you're standing on. The chorus and the ending are my favourite parts, but this is going in my favourites entirely. A very well executed piece of writing, thanks for sharing, spence

[Cool Handless Luke]

A very strong message and one that many people fear to be open minded enough to really understand. Living in this system we have it is sometimes hard to tell who is friend and who is enemy; What is right and what is wrong. So it becomes necessity to view all angles. There's a quote from some poet I can't remember at the moment but she said "The abyss doesn't divide us, It surrounds us." This piece reminds me of that. Thanks for the read. A good one.

[Adrian K. Smith]

There is no room for conviction in democracy. Democracy is the politics of compromise, where the greatest compromise is the blood of our own. The best intentions cannot survive this invention called democracy. Conviction is the world of the dictator, but power corrupts, and so we compromise - democracy.

[C.T. Bailey]

This is insightful...and filled with difficult truths. Freedom, real freedom, not the canned version available "off the shelf" from your favorite movie full of cliche's...comes by sacrifice. All want it, many crave it, few understand it.
Todd

[Angel Bird]

"To be a hero one must look at both sides without prejudice ..."

I think that's the message of this stirring and thought and emotion provoking piece.
Wow! Strong and reverberating words powerfully expressed. A favorite!

[Jayne Ann Saporito]

Powerful, awesome, and going into my favorites.