- The hand within or up above directs each action fake:
- Each word, each nod, each praise of joy, whate’er the master makes.
- Bow the head, fold the arms, expound, and testify,
- Say yes, say no, arm to the square, and never question why.
- Shushed and limp, no life inside, fifteen million strong.
- A sleight of hand awakens them to join the lockstep throng—
- Defend, sustain, endorse, uphold—accept the master’s hand.
- No voice, no mind, no heart without the revelation’s strand.
- Stuck in a cage—for years on end—in cold and confined form
- Until the master comes with keys and says, “You must perform”.
- ’Neath whip and chair under the tent, to jump, and run, and beg
- Before the congregation hushed; each rote and rite obeyed.
- Fly through the hoops and beg for fish; baptize them with the splash
- Dive down so deep, jump up so high—a calculated flash.
- Dance for the pipes, climb up the mount; the strait and narrow trod
- With leash and chains and shackles, too, tied to an iron rod.
- But some find out the gate’s not locked and open it with faith
- And courage, too—a cautious step, despite the pressure great
- To stay onboard, repeat refrains, and overload the shelf
- Where will you go? I do not know, but go there as myself.
- And there’s the stage, empty now, reluctant there to climb.
- A word, a no, a lonely shout, autonomous this time
- Cry prayers, see heav’n, eat at the feast, with fervour praises sing
- An agent now, to act with choice; alas, abandoned strings.
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