The best solution for me:

I don't write lyrics... they wrote me!

I think first of all you have to ask yourself a question.. do i have something i want to say? if not write something funny.

One thing I do, and keep in mind I've never actually FINISHED anything, as I uh.. am still learning to play, as well as the songwriting process..

BUT - Something that works for me is to put myself into the mindset of the 'character' the song is about. Write your lyrics in the first person as him. Get in his head.. for example what you described, I'd maybe come up with like uhh..

Behold them all, looking down upon us
Our dreams, Once so pure, now turned to dust

One day, they'll see
One day they will thank us
For too long We've toiled - Now it's our time

Now it's our time
But theres no time left...

THEN i'd so in and sing it to myself a few times in my head, and I'd actually go in and change the words like 'toiled' to 'tooooiled' to accentuate how I want it sung, so I can come back later on.

Once you have the beginnings of a melody, grab a thesaurus, check out how other lyricists do their thing, get ideas, read some poetry, and apply anything you like to your work!

Leave it alone for a few days ad come back to it, ect. ect.

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Like I said I'm just a beginner, but one thing I'm decent at is writing, so hopefully this gets some cogs turnin'!!