Though you think you know
Where I should go,
I will not follow.
I have been discreetly isolated from the lies
That fill your eyes
So dead and hollow.
You who have completely desecrated what is good
And what is pure
And what is holy
Will never show me
A way of being in this world that will surpass
The special way
I have imparted.
For I have started
A revolutionary way of life
Designed to douse your hate.

Sirens of Hope!
Sirens of Hope!
Sirens of Hope!

Hate me.
You cannot bait me.
Why do you scale that slippery slope,
When all around you,
Sweet virgins of harmony
Sound the sirens of a new and magical hope,
To bring a needed conclusion
To your delusion?
Your vain intrusion
Shall not succeed!
May all confusion
Befall those who torment me!
All your efforts to conceal me
Will never heal me:
Feel me!

I’m crying
While you are lying
To ev’ry person on this fated night!
I could be dying
And still you would bend your bows
Ready to release the arrows
Made up of fire
Higher,
Setting off satanic surges inside my soul . . .

Spare me!
You cannot scare me!
Your cries of violence
Will come to nought.
Your very silence
Is full of the blast of war!
Let the people of my pleasure,
Those whom I treasure, measure
Each and ev’ry bit of hatred
Against their love.

We the People of our Pleasure,
We whom we treasure, measure
Each and ev’ry bit of hatred
Against our love —
And meet the hatred with love!
And meet the hatred with love!
We the people whom I pleasure,
We whom we treasure, measure
Each and every bit of hatred
Against our love!
And meet the hatred with love!
And meet the hatred with love!
And meet the hatred with love!

© A. Pope 2020