The prophet saw the massive throne, the temple filled with heavy smoke,
He realized, standing in the light, how every toxic word he spoke.
An angel took a burning coal, to sear the poison from his face,
You cannot warn the dying block, until you feel the burn of grace.
He warned the city of the crash, but all the leaders turned away,
We watch the neighborhood collapse, but no one puts the pipe away.
He saw the heavy timber fall, and watched the Babylonians rise,
It's agonizing on the wall, to scream at men with blinded eyes.
But in the ashes of the street, he wrote the blueprint of the King,
A suffering servant taking blows, to bear the weight of everything.
He prophesied the bloody cross, the final payment for the rust,
The only way to build it back, is through the Savior in the dust.
The Rehab Blueprint
Before the heavy buyouts and the corporate concrete,
The original foundation was a hand-laid, working street.
They built the western gateway out of cobblestone and sweat,
A solid, red-brick history the modern blocks forget.
It was an honest labor at the river's muddy edge,
A testament to calloused hands that held the city's pledge.
But when the city fractured and the politicians lied,
A few good men of capital refused to let it slide.
They built a massive enterprise, a fleet across the land,
And poured the fortune quietly right back into the sand.
They didn't tax the broken streets to fix the park and Arch,
They funded the foundation for the city's upward march.
Yet underneath the monuments, the deepest rot begins,
The needle and the bottle are the heavy modern sins.
But sitting in the basement on a folded metal chair,
The old heads of the neighborhood are fighting the despair.
They earned their silver tokens through the fire and the cold,
And guide an angry generation, spoiled, blind, and bold.
The ultimate rebuilding doesn't come from human hands,
A house will never settle on the shifting river sands.
The Carpenter from Nazareth has left a clear design,
A Sermon on the Mountain to correct the broken line.
The system tries to padlock every alley on the block,
But He has left the doorway open, built upon the rock.