Loudspeaker

8. Thunder

Ominous grey clouds overwhelm the fading moon dipping below the horizon
The daylight, like hope, slipping away turns the sky a deep maroon
As the birds fly home against the silhouette of the valleys.
Rain begins to pour without hesitation so it seems for a moment
That the skyline is bleeding out across the trees.
Hopelessly dashing across the open fields I can see them.
Everyone can see them trying to find a way out
Trying to find a way out before the lightning strikes.

There they are running from what they've done
Desperately trying to hide from the truth, hoping to escape the bright white light.
There they are drowning in their guilt
As the world's eyes are fixed on them
Through the window, through the screen
Somehow, everyone's got their eyes out
Got their knives out for them.
There's no point in protesting innocence for the men in blue
Transparent are their crimes, pale as a ghost are their guilty faces
We all see through their elaborate ploys, the little illegal things they like to do.

Flee from justice, the clouds thundering like gunshots in your eardrums
Each clap echoes around the world
As another of your victims falls down
Did you really expect to get away this time
When we see the guilty glorified and free
While the innocent are locked behind bars?

The tension had to break at some point
It's been hundreds of years without rain
The beating sun parching the plains that were once so full of life
Leading to decades of depression and a lifetime of backbreaking work on the fields.
It was felt in the still air, in the stifling humidity
That it was mere moments until thunder would strike
And supremacy would be washed away into the mud
From its throne of grandeur over the plantations in the dull, grey sky.
The world watched the inevitable fall from grace with baited breath
Wielding knives, they saw the hunters become the hunted
They saw the ones who believed they were above the law crash and burn
Tarred black and convicted in a frenzy of orange.

Thunder broke like a torturous scream of revenge
Sound waves connecting the world
As the rain hailed down unforgivingly
They fought to keep their head above the water
But ended up drowning in their guilt.
Even high land can't keep you safe for long
When judgement day comes.
Nothing can save them now.
When the waves rise over their head
Each drop is a failed responsibility
Each millimetre a day without rain
Each touch of precipitation a moment without justice.
If you live without morality then the same way you'll die
Because now they're sinking six feet under
Shouting in agony that they can't breathe.

Flee from justice, the clouds thundering like gunshots in your eardrums
Each clap echoes around the world
As another of your victims falls down
Did you really expect to get away this time
When we see the guilty glorified and free
While the innocent are locked behind bars?

In the aftermath of the storm
The oppressed were banned from burying their dead
The victims painted out as thieves while the murderer is seen as a king instead.
Mellow notes of violin hung in the crisp air
As memorials were torn to shreds
Tear gas dispersing the mourners
Creating protestors in their place.
Whispers of change become shouts of revolution
As candles became torches firing flames
Facing off against rubber bullets of pain.
Prayers became posters and angst shifted to enlightenment
Yet the cameras had disappeared, the journalists were nowhere to be seen
The news reporters vanished because this struggle is nothing new.
But their phones captured the first glimpses of the violet sunrise
Peaking behind the valleys.

Flee from justice, the clouds thundering like gunshots in your eardrums
Each clap echoes around the world
As another of your victims falls down
Did you really expect to get away this time
When we see the guilty glorified and free
While the innocent are locked behind bars?

LD x ~ 8/8/20