Last Generation

I wrote Last Generation in 1968, only four months after I got out of the service. I suppose you could say it's about passing the baton from one generation of government to the next. I was pretty certain in my mind that big change was coming and I was naive enough to believe we might even see an end to war. In reflecting upon its errant message from way back then, I added the last four lines today as an update.

LAST GENERATION

Listen to the voice of the establishment
Preaching from the central throne
Writhing green with envy for the morally free
And they won’t leave us alone

Bound by chains of hate and animosity
And grateful to control
The death machine of bureaucratic government
From their blast-proof underground hole

What they see and what they hate synonymous
And their minds are built of fears
The people that their narrow minds can’t comprehend
Are subversives, cranks, or queers

Children of depression and hostility
Perhaps they’ve done their best
But now the time has come for them to step aside
And their minds be put to rest

The movement gains momentum with each passing day
It has passed the point of no return
It’s revolution coming for the good of man
Open up his mind so he can learn

Newly added stanza:

Then perhaps as time goes by our world will change
Maybe we will stop all war
Or maybe our new leaders will be just the same
And the killing lasts forever more


Steven Pein
29 December 1968
Modified 23 March 2010
.