R.I.P. Habeas Corpus

The Gulag Archipelago gave conscious thought
as a plaything of government strategy,
a toy to amuse and simulate tragedy.
The human psyche neatly caught
bound, gagged and anaesthetised we sought
to subvert and manipulate innocents
into solemn quietitude and deference;
happy to give up rights hard fought.
Century old lessons expensively bought
left in the forgotten sandpit’s corner
exchanged for a tele or a sauna
the visual opiate conveys our thoughts
from that which should be taught
and reduces sobriety to nought.
The golden idol driving our lives
has lost all principle and vies
to make us slaves to commercial servitude;
hardening hearts against moral rectitude.
The State which if no longer just and good
reduces all men to puppets, hewn of wood.