by Robert Emmett
we breathe freedom
freely as
soldiers bleed blood
for those who
would deceive us
when the lie is cast
the called won’t refuse
as high-born chums
work their gums
then snigger at
their ruse
the alarum is triple tested
the spells time-released
the hidden anti-alchemist
and the military priest
debase their craft
with a sleight
of tongue
as chosen bidders
up the ante
take liberty with the gold
and leave every mother’s child
free and clear
worth their weight in lead
teach your children
to beware
when vows vanish
in thick air
even a mangled incantation
by the feeble jester
lights a ready fuse
of caustic resolve
begets a shambles
a maniac’s manifesto
shivers the fundament
to bits
and commands silence
of the dumb
with a sliver
through the tongue
oh how we love freedom
we go to
and fro
and peddle the cross
across the arched door
and here’s how free we are:
we’re free to sell the arsenals
free to hide the cost
free to bluster what we’ve won
and bury what we’ve lost
free to exceed our enemy
and plow his people low
free to stack the cadaverous deck
and reap just what we sow
the trumped-up situation
is mouthed with a well-worn phrase
so we’re free to keep on doing this
for the rest of your born days
and the only nagging question
like a shard in the back of your brain
is how we deserve so much freedom
while ignoring all your pain
though we didn’t write the story
we still claim it as our own
since we’ve borrowed all the collateral
and welshed on every loan
Robert Emmett writes from the wooded hills of Michigan what else-wise he ought utter for a muse meant it be that way.
