The Ashes of LA
When we look back from the future, perhaps a decade hence
Imagining the evolution from the present tense
When we look back at when it was all “stick up for #1”
Will we think about this moment as the time the west was won
When the people rose up to embrace anew
An interconnected, interdependent kind of worldview
That arose as everyone took stock of the day
And looked around us at the ashes of LA
Will we be listening to road work and all the bustling sound
As all across the land they put those wires underground
Will we look back at the time when politicians all agreed
It turns out really to be true, we’re in the same society
From the broken-down bus to the crowded tenements
From the Malibu mansions to the nearest tent
Will there come a moment when this society can say
We learned this lesson while we stood amid the ashes of LA
In 2035 will we look upon right now
As the time we got together and made a plan for how
We’d restructure society and stop suburban sprawl
By making housing a human right for all
Maybe taking it off the market, and democratically
Voting it all needed to be collectively
A matter for the us all to decide what we can pay
In the referendum of the ashes of LA
Will we look back at this moment as the moment when
Humanity emerged from this dragon’s den
With the realization that if it’s not one for all
Then we’ll just be watching everything burning floor to wall
The moment that we noticed if there’s a weak link in the chain
The next one is when we're hearing the approaching train
Of the next firestorm to come our way
When we’re standing in what used to be the ashes of LA
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