Empire Falls

the sun never sets, how soon we forget
this classic story line
through the rise and the fall, the greatest of walls
all crumble and decline

the rich lead the dumb, back to their slums
to fight another day
too sick and too tired, to question the liars
content to be entertained

though sworn to protect, we choose to neglect
it's easier to look away
and though men have died, we devalue their lives
and what they fought to save

the patriots who resist, penned on the blacklist
dissenters denounced as cowards
and if you appease, their most selfish needs
the people concede their power

the pendulum swings
an empire falls
history repeats
we've learned nothing at all
the pendulum swings
an empire dies
as the world moves on
it's forgotten in time

a policy sick
a policy frail
a policy fit for a king
is a policy doomed to fail
a policy white
a policy black
a policy that divides
a policy cursed to collapse