Screams in Los Angeles

The sirens sang in minor key As midnight bled on Century And peace stood still with hands held high Beneath the manufactured sky A line was drawn, then moved again By orders inked in sleet and flame No warnings came, just flags unfurled And boots that crushed a breaking world Screams in Los Angeles Smoke beneath the crown They lit the match, they fed the fire Then blamed the ones burned down Ashes in Los Angeles Truth beneath the lies Where silence marched with tear gas eyes A family taken in the night No trial, no sound, no legal right They broke the doors, they split the skin And called it law, and claimed a win Then soldiers came with gas and steel And branded peace a rebel zeal The city screamed in fractured tones While shadows cracked in megaphones Screams in Los Angeles Smoke beneath the crown They lit the match, they fed the fire Then blamed the ones burned down Ashes in Los Angeles Justice set to drown While freedom choked on sacred ground They said: “They forced our hand.” But the hand was already closed. And the voice of the state Was the crack of a shield on bone. Now headlines fade and days go numb And presidents pretend they’ve won But in the alleys, on the walls— The truth still stares and softly calls Screams in Los Angeles And all the world looks on One nation armed against its own And tells itself it’s strong Ashes in Los Angeles The story’s far from gone— The fire waits until the dawn