Yet Lives the Spirit of Zengler?
Could it have been so long ago?
I do believe it was
Existed people that did show
A deference to laws,
But also to such principles
Whereof law is expression--
Today but Reprehensibles
Would make a long digression.
Democracy as has devolved
To capitalistic caging,
From standard values has absolved
Itself while fads are raging--
New fads on which to make a buck,
Who cares the why and wherefore:
What matters is, the deal gets struck,
A joy all lives prepare for.
A little graft, a little grease
To make the thing run smoothly,
A whole slew of indemnities,
No matter how untruthly--
Systemic, systematic con
Or payment under table:
’Tis but the way business gets done,
Why protocols disable?
Ah, but it was not always so--
Each man today an angler
For private ends, both high and low,
But once—John Peter Zengler,
At risk to his own livelihood,
To his own scope of living,
Stared down the gauntlet where he stood,
In truth without deceiving.
A humble printer he—but O
He stood on higher ground
Than men today: how long ago
Was such conviction found?
Today men fear to criticize
Their government, or even
Such “social pillars” they despise
Because by malice driven.
Unroll the scroll of petty thefts
Conducted in full view
By low and high officials—heft’s
Expanded, nothing new;
But new the utter silence with
Which such crimes have been greeted,
When honesty is deemed a myth
And slanders false repeated.
Where is that Zengler of today
Or Hamilton defender,
As gives a damn, will have his say,
Not moved by “legal tender”
Epitomized in beaucoup bucks--
But higher faith, regard
For liberty and truth, while clucks
The rabble in the yard.