In which Athenae, driving home in the early autumn dark and thinking about how hard the next 39 days are going to be, turns on her favorite radio station and finds the perfect Kerry campaign song:

On the turning away

From the pale and downtrodden

And the words they say

Which we won’t understand

Don’t accept that what’s happening

Is just a case of others’ suffering

Or you’ll find that you’re joining in

The turning away

It’s a sin that somehow

Light is changing to shadow

And casting its shroud

Over all we have known

Unaware how the ranks have grown

Driven on by a heart of stone

We could find that we’re all alone

In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night

As the daytime is stirring

Where the speechless unite

In a silent accord

Using words you will find are strange

And mesmerized as they light the flame

Feel the new wind of change

On the wings of the night

No more turning away

From the weak and the weary

No more turning away

From the coldness inside

Just a world that we all must share

It’s not enough just to stand and stare

Is it only a dream that there’ll be

No more turning away?

If Floyd doesn’t float your boat, I also propose a song to get people out of their chairs and to the polls, to the gathering places, to Mars, bitches! I prefer Karan Casey’s version, but go with Ewan if you like:

In the morning we built the city

In the afternoon walked through its streets

Evening saw us leaving

We wandered through our days as if they would never end

All of us imagined we had endless time to spend

We hardly saw the crossroads and small attention gave

To landmarks on the journey from the cradle to the grave,

cradle to the grave, cradle to the grave

Did you learn to dream in the morning?

Abandon dreams in the afternoon?

Wait without hope in the evening?

Did you stand there in the traces and let them feed you lies?

Did you trail along behind them wearing blinkers on your eyes?

Did you kiss the foot that kicked you? Did you thank them for their scorn?

Did you ask for their forgiveness for the act of being born,

act of being born, act of being born?

Did you alter the face of the city?

Did you make any change in the world you found?

Or did you observe all the warnings?

Did you read the trespass notices, did you keep off the grass?

Did you shuffle off the pavement just to let your betters pass?

Did you learn to keep your mouth shut, were you seen and never heard?

Did you learn to be obedient and jump to at a word,

jump to at a word, jump to at a word?

Did you ever demand any answers?

The who and the what and the reason why?

Did you ever question the setup?

Did you stand aside and let them choose while you took second best?

Did you let them skim the cream off and then give to you the rest?

Did you settle for the shoddy? Did you think it right

To let them rob you right and left and never make a fight,

never make a fight, never make a fight?

What did you learn in the morning?

How much did you know in the afternoon?

Were you content in the evening?

Did they teach you how to question when you were at the school?

Did the factory help you grow, were you the maker or the tool?

Did the place where you were living enrich your life and then

Did you reach some understanding of all your fellow men,

all your fellow men, all your fellow men?