DOUBLE DECREE

The word went out in secret coded hope

So none would know and few would even care.

The priests denied and hid it far away

For who’d believe if they all saw the snare?

And those who suffered it were cast away

By those chosen to make the business gain.

Crosses on backs born bent to bear it all

But frills for those exempt from all the pain.

Yet when reform and print shed light and truth

More lies were told than any voiced before.

The plate went round and gathered up the gold

Of those who knew just one side of the score.

Have you in your earnest and true belief

Ever wondered why some were found then lost,

Drifted far off and then were shunned and hushed?

Where is the ground on which their hearts were tossed?

But still those fiends of foresight seek new fields

And not the pits of those destined to die,

Where once were gardens green and blooming bright
Before the death decree rendered them dry.