Poems

The Religious Right

Voltaire's
inability
to save the life

of the
Chevalier de la Barre, age 19,
sentenced to torture & death
for blasphemy
& mutilating a crucifex

J. Edgar Hoover
viewing
an article
in '64
about Jean-Paul Sartre

scrawled
in blue ink
on its
edge:
"Find out who
Sartre is."

Tom Paine

Everyone, even a saviour and a hero,
is a criminal to someone

Tom Paine was an American hero
who truly shaped his times

His pamphlet Common Sense helped people take courage
in 1776

and then Tom Paine returned to England
where he wrote Tie Rights of Man

The English establishment hated Tom Paine
for his ceaseless work for the poor

so that the great bard William Blake
warned Tom
that he was marked for doom

"You must not go home,"
"or you are a dead man," said William Blake

He fled in the night
followed by the secret police
till he reached the docks of Dover
to take a boat to France

He was dragging his trunk across the dock
where some people were lined up calling his name
Tom Paine!   Tom Paine!   You goddamned scoundrel!
Tom Paine!   Tom Paine!   You need a ducking!
Tom Paine!   Tom Paine!   Let's tar and feather him!

bleary at dawn
hauling his trunk to the boat
in a perp-walk   perp-walk   perp-walk
Walking on the dock with his manuscripts
in a perp-walk
perp-walk   perp-walk   perp-walk

Socrates

Everyone, even a saviour or a hero,
is a criminal to someone

Socrates was brought to trial in Athens
in 399 BC
and a jury of 501 narrowly voted
to sentence him to die

They didn't like what Socrates was teaching the Greeks
He was "questioning tradition"
in the cultural crisis from the
the war with Sparta

You can read about his end in Plato's Phaedo:
"You have only to drink this," the servant said, "and to walk about
until your legs feel heavy, and then lie down, Socrates, Socrates lie down
and it will act by itself"

Socrates drank down the cup of hemlock
drank it down cheerfully

The tears of his friends flowed down their faces
Stay calm," said Socrates, "and please hold up
for I have heard that a man should die peacefully"

and then he took his final walk
slower   slower  slower
and then he took his final walk
slower   slower  slower

as the feeling went out of his limbs
then Socrates lay down on the ground

and the soul of Socrates left his body like a shooting star
after his perp-walk   perp-walk   perp-walk