Brett Dennen: I Asked When

well i dreamed i went out a wanderin'
i heard promises become fables forgotten
i saw bridges stretchin' out across the water
and towers pushing taller

i knew my reality was clearly defined
by the fences put up around my mind
i watched them thicken into walls over time
taller than any boarder line
i saw civilizations deemed insignificant
i saw people's history tatooed on their skin
i saw families taken from their land
dynasties shattered and stolen

and i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution

in all the burdens of centuries accrue
that get passed along to every generation's youth
and all the allegories told in lieu of truth
i watched them grow wild and spread like the flu

i saw the rise of an untamed industry
i watched machines paint a paper economy
i saw my own self stand right in front of me
and i didn't do a thing

i saw poisons pushed in the street
and prescription pills mingling in the mezzanine
with a whole host of wealth of doctors and pharmaceutical companies
still poor people were dying from disease

and i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution

and i broke down at the break of dawn
I saw new meaning in the clouds above the Pentagon
as real as the hollocaust as stong as the Parthanon
visions of Sudan Iraq and Vietnam

i stood silent upon a flooded levy
and stared at the ruins of a merchant city
and the president who came to dine with the noble elite
he didnt do a thing

i saw three ships come sailing in
through the passage of the CARIBBEAN
i saw children coming home in coffins
millions marching on washington

and i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution
i asked when, when... is a revolution
i asked when... is a revolution