Resist – spoken word #1

Resist

Resist the urge to splurge
Instead of purge,
Hold back the surge
Of materialism,
Fueled by rabid capitalism
That builds for you a prison
Of desire, barbed wire
Touched with the fire of lust for “more.”
Simplify, ask “Why should I have
A tenth pair of shoes
When others have none?
Or a gas-guzzling monster, just for fun
While others bleed oil at the point of a gun?

 
Resist the urge to stay silent,
When the world’s violent powers
Rain down showers of fire
On innocents, mired in poverty,
Abandoned by liberty
And by those who refuse to see
Reality, yet go to church on bended knee
Thanking God for what’s given to me.

 
Resist the urge to accept
When secrets are kept,
Told to no one except
The powerful, privileged, prosperous few.
Question authority.
Go beyond the majority.
Stand up for the minority.
Use your power for the powerless.
Give hope to the hopeless,
Voice to the voiceless.
Refuse to accept less
Take no rest ‘till we’re all blessed

Resist your own resistance,
Your desire for distance
From the pressing persistence
Of poverty, hunger, genocide,
The great divide of the classes,
The freezing, huddled masses
Whose cardboard homes we pass as
We walk on by, and try to deny
We’ve seen anything but Christ himself
In their eyes.

Resist the A-list mentality,
The elitist banality
Of a superficial reality.
Know your own worth,
You, this blessing from birth,
Created of earth and divine breath,
Bigger than death, a vessel of grace,
No matter your clothing labels,
How well you know your times tables,
Or can’t even afford basic cable.
These fables of false value
Forever shall you shed, setting your head
On a higher course, a greater goal,
Put a twist on power’s fist.
Force it open, reach it out,
To those we’ve missed,
Whom privilege has not yet kissed,
Though others insist
You’re a hopeless idealist,
Resist.