When first I saw the need to speak

And utter words of wisdom deep

I must have been about three years old

Sitting on a high stool in a little restaurant

In my home town of Venice Beach

I heard a young couple discussing their plans

To get a car and a house and a boat

To measure their future in terms of the time

It took to get married and make some money

Their happiness ruled by material things

No thought now of being shy

I had to speak out

I don't know why

(Perhaps all those Sundays in Catholic Church

Listening to parables about self-worth?)

"You don't need a car or a house or a boat

You don't measure success by the money in your purse

If we want to survive the times to come

If we want to be happy

The solution will come

We just need brotherhood

It isn't hard

Be brothers and sisters

Love each other

And we shall save the world!"

In my own mind

The choice was clear

But my parents, unfortunately,

Had no ears to hear!

So they shut me up in embarrassed state

How dare I speak out

How dare I relate?

I didn't even know that young couple's name

Hadn't been introduced

Wasn't playing the right game

"Children are to be seen and not heard!"

My parents had "religion"

But their thoughts were far from mine

I shut my mouth

And hung my head

In shame, I realized

Their hearts were stone and their souls were as if dead

But then I remembered a forgotten clue

Pray for the couple and for my parents, too

Pray for them to have ears to hear

Earn their compassion by showing it clear

Pray for eyes to see

And a heart to understand

Make Love the religion

To Heal our troubled Land!