Broken Gates

It hurts
It hurts to feel
even a taste of possibility
It bites like hell-o-peno
to accept the probability
That what you were lead to believe
What your ancestors gave their lives for
What has served well
as the ground of your dignity
Has been in reality,
a lie

Not in fact but in the confines of rationality
When the alternative rests fondled on the tips of insanity
Now held loosely
Not as tight as before
And you wish you didn't know any more

A sneaking suspecion may arrive
hand in hand with a friend
A cynical one that twists in the knife of betrayal,
twists and twists untill you twitch
Or a delusional one that whispers quietly,
"Hey, let's play pretend."
Or both
Like there's an angel and a demon on its shoulders
But which one is which

A bruise from a friend, said Solomon,
is better than a multitude of kisses
If you ever cared to ask
or scratched the surface of the past
Didn't you notice the inconsistencies
Tell me honestly, please
You have thought it too,
haven't you

How can a text exist before its publication
Or father die four years before our conception
Why does the preacher flip when his supplier exits Act II
Why doesn't the leader do what he's told to do
If the certification is legit why no sealing stamp
It sincerely seems like a false signature
And although I've enjoyed the trap
There's some fishy business going on in the camp

And is the camp even located at the place we have been told
Where is the evidence: the groves and the gold
The Constitution we're told to follow
has been edited some more
It seems that we're blind devotees
so, how can we be sure
Don't speak to me of witnesses
For no one saw a thing
Our leader blazes trails
like an oligarcic king

Of course he'd claim legitimacy
from those who'd gone before
Yet when he tries to quote from them
His knowledge proves too poor

I know you don't like to swallow
these challenges to the narrative
They leave far more than mere bad taste
But if we don't need to remain in palliative
Then let's break out the gates

I'm not suggesting we be dicks about it
It's not anybody's fault per se
But if we don't live to be authentic
We'll certainly be caught out one day

Better to escape when able
And remain one piece intact
I still speak peace upon those inside
And will always have their back