A Poem From Before

You said to me the time of kings was a thing of long ago
And I don't know why I trusted you, but I did and it was so.

You told me of a time freedom lay prisoned under law
And illustrated it with the food you fed the baby's gaping maw.

You named foods as laws and duties, as if honour were a rash,
Then you ground them with a fork into a generic kind of mush.

And you fed them to the baby who never ceased from screaming,
Asked me if I understood- waved the spoon and spoke of meaning.

The news came on to fill the silence with freedoms come and gone;
Free men treated just like trash and all their rights withdrawn.

So I wondered if the time of kings had come to us once again
And you wiped the baby's rash, laughed, and said I was insane.

I remember it quite clearly, how you said - plain as the day's dawning -
That freedom's shores would never fall without some kind of warning.

So I left your house that night with heavy heart and fear under my feet
Wondering how many warning's come before we no longer heed.