\u201cShut up!\u201d
Mooed the crowd, in fits and spasms.
\u201cAnd put your muzzle back on!\u201d
They agreed, uncowed, hardly passive\u2026
This herd has been weaponized, thought I,
Looking to the warning eyes,
Nervous above the bullhorn:
\u201cTyranny requires your compliance!
And genocide your righteous zeal!\u201d
And the only escape\u2026 a train to\u2026 Auschwitz?
With a ticket not to feel\u2026 any\u2026 real conscience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Love over fear\u2019 the herd has always taught,
A simple choice like the colour of socks\u2026
Or masks, or flags\u2026or jaundiced bellies\u2026 perhaps?
But if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned for sure,
It\u2019s that it\u2019s love which does the choosing,
Not I, nor you\u2026 nor policies or mandates\u2026
Because fear\u2019s antonym and antidote
Is the long-lost curiosity that climbs
All the tricky fences in barbwire minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cListen to the experts!\u201d sneer Politicos,
\u201cBut only these, not those\u2014 God no!\u201d
Selected to parse the truth with knives of arrogance,
For an imbecilic youth, such vaunted brilliance,
So easily tramples questions beneath foot and hoof\u2026
As I recall Orwell\u2019s lasting image of the stomping boot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCover your face\u2026 or we\u2019ll be forced to crush it!\u201d
I understand\u2026
\u201cIt\u2019s for the best and good of all\u2026\u201d
I understand far too well
Where all the darkest histories of hell have stood\u2014
Beneath the thin disguise of lies:
It\u2019s for the greater good\u2014
Always. I remember\u2026 as you berate me,
Ever the power of true compassion escapes thee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYe! Creature of convenience,
It\u2019s so little what we ask:
Just a mask\u2026 and a pinprick\u2026 oh, and the silence of your conscience\u2026\u201d
Shhh! They don\u2019t talk about that part\u2014
For in this brave new world only refusal has no heart.
\u201cIf we can save just\u2026 one\u2026 life\u2026 you\u2019ll see; it\u2019s worth it.\u201d
But on the way to worth
We trampled and shat on everything else:
Conscience and livelihood, the meaning of living\u2026 and self\u2026
Oops!
But everybody poops\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cShut up!\u201dMooed the crowd, in fits and spasms.\u201cAnd put your muzzle back on!\u201dThey agreed, uncowed, hardly passive\u2026This herd has been weaponized, thought I,Looking to the warning eyes,Nervous above the bullhorn:\u201cTyranny requires your compliance!And genocide your righteous zeal!\u201dAnd the only escape\u2026 (…)<\/p>\n