The way our modern western society is built
Especially in the United States of America
Is with the goal of keeping you in a mill
Distracted by these cheapened thrills
Unbothered but also incredibly unfulfilled
With no where to go, stuck in a peninsula
Of asphalt nightmares and shopping malls
Endless roads that lead you to suburban sprawls
And you can only get there if you have a car
A wheelchair for the privilege of going far
No more squares and walkable places to be
Only way to not get depressed in a concrete city
Fill your time with buying things you don’t need
So that you can get a straight hit of serotonin
Because the cities also just look so damn ugly
Nothing here is guaranteed to be for free
Even the things that belong to you and to me
Like a walk through an art museum or a park
You must make sure to pay for the human spark
Everywhere you go is a deadly reminder to us
That life is made to be boring and void of lust
Scafolding covering the sunset ahead
Makes you wish that you’d rather be dead
Public places traded in for corporate spaces
Soured faces waiting patiently for their raises
But they never come and they never will
Because they need us to be poor and financially ill
For every working person that has their soul taken
A CEO is birthed and from slumber awakened
With a whip in one hand and money in the other
Ready to destroy us just as much as our mother
Who suffers from the hands of power and greed
We are held hostage and wish to be free
From the shackles of capitalistic plight
We just want to live and we don’t want to fight
But we’re trapped in our cubicles weary and worn
As we pump gas in our cars, swallow our pride
And just drive back home…
To repeat this nightmare
And waste time on our phones…

© The Black Lotus