On pots from Rome to Timbuktu
All sorts of men have sat
That sycophants of every hue
Proclaimed both good and great;
And what’s the odds if under such
Tin-pottery of State
A man would take position,
Accept any position.
Dictatorships may rise and fall
But what of wrong or right
When Justice heeds the Party call
With profit kept in sight,
And flunkies stand (but never tall)
Whom evil men invite
To take such a position,
Take such a position.
Tin pot dictators fall or rise
Since all the world began,
But who would offer obsequies
To freedom with truth’s ban
When stolen judgeships men devise
To murder it—what decent man
Would take such a position,
Take such a position?