Words That Burn

Notes For My Son, by Alex Comfort (1920-2000)

Remember when you hear them beginning to say Freedom 
Look carefully see who it is that they want you to butcher. 

Remember, when you say that the old trick would not have 

fooled you for a moment 

That every time it is the trick which seems new.

Remember that you will have to put in irons 
Your better nature, if it will desert to them. 

Remember, remember their faces watch them carefully: 
For every step you take is on somebody's body 

And every cherry you plant for them is a gibbet 
And every furrow you turn for them is a grave 

Remember, the smell of burning will not sicken you 
If they persuade you that it will thaw the world 

Beware. The blood of a child does not smell so bitter 
If you have shed it with a high moral purpose. 

So that because the woodcutter disobeyed 
they will not burn her today or any day 

So that for lack of a joiner's obedience 
The crucifixion will not now take place 

So that when they come to sell you their bloody corruption 
You will gather the spit of your chest 
And plant it in their faces.

Note For The Reader:  Alex Comfort is also famous for being the author of The Joy of Sex, published in 1972.