karma meets dogma

a simple calm for which we have not paid
beguiles our hopes leads us down the road
to some dark places where the final goad
is that our true intentions once mislaid
return to haunt us for we'll be afraid
of what our hearts say when they are bestowed
as partial payments on what we have owed
in order to pretend we've made the grade
allow some words this time to be misspent
so that we may a liberal credit claim
and we will laugh when curfew starts to chime
yet then it will be too late to repent
every excuse will turn out to be lame
and we will face the charge for every crime