He has taken things from children

and sometimes from the dead,

often both at once

yet not a word was said.

 

He has broken imposed curfews

commandments and the law,

in many different countries

protected by a war.

 

He has spoken of sedition

incitement and of hate,

with words as ammunition

he's schemed to obfuscate.

 

He has dealt with kings and scoundrels

crowned by their conceit,

in chambers high and low

he's grovelled at their feet.

 

He has sold out the defenceless

the useless and the poor,

in trading halls and board rooms

he's cast them to the floor.

 

He has taken all the plaudits

the titles and the gongs,

now in their palaces and churches,

they absolve him of his wrongs.