Deceiver

We are at war but not with so petty a weapon

As a bullet, a bomb, a bayonet, a battle axe.

There are no defenses in this war we fight.

No barricades to erect.

No armor, no shields, no camouflage.

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We are fighting with ropes.

Bind the wrists to stop the slander and

Wrap the ankles to watch them fall.

We loop the last string around their neck

To leash them and lead them to their demise.

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But no hog lets itself be tied up,

Without some sort of fight or squeal or bite.

But we fight with good reason,

Carefully constructed criticism and

Pretty little words full of coercing ideals.

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Follow, follow, follow

The blazing trail of this homemade utopia.

Watch the numbers plummet from their high,

Angels blaze when they fall

And this sky is alight with flame and fire,

The smell of burning feathers.

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We build the gallows with dollar signs

And stack the silhouettes of those with similar ideals

One atop the next like some kind of prayer.

These gallows are a shrine to the words we spin

Into titanic lies and fetching stories.

The hog follows us up, noose around its neck.

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Hungry for the story,

Eager to let the truth spill from its mouth

So it follows the leader with the biggest grin

And puts its head beside the golden microphone.

But all that escapes is the hoarse cry as the dollars give way

Beneath hopeful feet:

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"Deceiver!"

The dollar signs made the gallows glitter

"Deceiver!"

And his cry was caught in the sound of fireworks.

"Deceiver!"

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Silver Serpent Books

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