What is a Poem for?

It is to show us the open filthy palms
Of children in the hate-filled streets
That led to our demise

It is to lighten the way we lost
Long ago when our path was cast in shadow
So we can once again rise

It is to vanquish the false hope we harbor
Growing insane with continuous deception
And the random numbers revolving in our skulls

It is to hand us the bouquet of lust
Watch the petals smolder to ashes
To blow through our empty souls

It is to destroy the chest we desperately grip
In fear of someone else finding the key
So we won't be imprisoned like a stringed up doll

It is to lift our chins to the distant future
To drag out the courage we need to survive
Denying the grasping hands that covet us to fall

It is to leave the past behind
Pelt us with common sense
Show us the thin line between stupidity and bravery

It is to sharpen our knifes
Remind us to embrace reveries
Break through the chains of our self-induced slavery

It is to give us back our smiles
Show us how to laugh at practical jokes even though our whole life feels like one
End this everlasting race

It is to throw out the papers and checks and shit
That keeps us frozen at the cliff edge of delusion
So our lives reflect our true face

It is to hand us the razor of downfall
To take that mental pain away
With the physical pain that follows

It is to teach us how as the relief fades
So does our will to move on without a backward glance
So when we come back for more, no longer are we hallows

It is to put us in our place on this frayed hem of society
Point us to where we should stand
For this picture and those politics

It is to listen to the free flowing music
Calming our thoughts at least for the moment
Until we get our next tasteless fix

It is to determine the color of a mirror
Help us avoid risks in life
So we can make it safely to our death

It is to drive away from our bloody rivalries
Take the noose away from those
Trying to escape with coke and meth

It is to think the only way out is through
To fit in with the common crowd
Our souls to the unknown we willingly sell

It is to ditch identities we worked so hard for
Draw the reputations for which we fought to an end
As we try to pretend that it was not us who fell

It is to drain the bullet shells of their powder
Coating our dreams and suffocating our gasping lungs
Spoon feeding us lie after lie

It is to take away our stifling umbrellas
So we can dance free in the storm and sing out loud in joy
Again and again before we all die