cæsar may no longer be a ghost

the dove has died and now the buzzard rules
our better selves have given way unto some darker powers
our hopes and fears have now become mere tools
working to shape our minds in these fearful hours

our leaders alternate -- now smile now frown --
their messages that seek to make us tremble
the most supreme becomes a grinning clown
and all his followers delight now to dissemble

threatened with detention in a warm tropic isle
we fall at once uncomplaining to our knees
the freedoms we proclaim have disappeared meanwhile
and all our health now stands clear as disease

we only hope that it be now not too late
to resurrect the liberties of our once free state