Hung out to dry

Dare I be, dare I despair
Days that may pass me by
Declare, on pulpit, standing proud
A man of high renown
 
The day began with sunshine
The window, opened, felt a glare
A sense of free opinion
A sense of thoughtfulness – a stare
 
He came to serve his people –
Those who declared their faith
Stand up, stand out, admit to thee
From pew where one ingratiates
 
He’d converse outside the swimming pool
Two boys he’d ‘cheerio’
No knowledge that trouble begets
From decades, long ago
 
Yet they’d come to shine their light
On so-called ‘happenings’ from then
On whose testimony would he fall?
On whose memory would he bend?
 
Exemplify disapproval
Of one man’s lifetime’s work
Far away from Ballarat
Testimony would be heard
 
Ne’er to see his homeland
Of sunshine, dirt and drought
Just the inside of a court-room
Turn left – they’ll force him out
 
The silence of majority
No help to men like him
Minorities may shout and yell
Yet in that noise is there a sin?
 
A sense society is lost
A sense a man ‘hung out to dry’
As they read, they look at their surrounds
And cannot help but to ask;
‘Why?’