Despite what you may read in books, no revolution brews
in noisy bars or quiet cafes among agreeing friends
who decide the status quo is flawed, and pay their dues
producing pamphlets that describe the means to reach some end.

It is not action by committee, out to change the face
of the illusions that surround the minds of men and states;
these mere revolts exist in unreal time and space
and merely shift the larger portion to a different plate.

To truly change the world requires that in a single mind
the thought of reaching past the known burns with undying fire,
and in that place where none imagine who or what they’ll find
to dare to step, with one’s one feet, into a quagmire

that wretches the security from culture’s safety net,
believing that the best has never happened yet.

It is not revolution to in any way believe
that those who are your enemies exist to bar your path;
and only would-be rebels are by this pretense deceived,
led to some senseless slaughter, while seeming opponents laugh.

15 JUN 2004