obedience

having gone places where no human feet
have felt the ground and where no human eye
has seen those shadows you have cause to sigh
on hearing once more the familiar beat
of human hearts on every well-known street
knowing they go forth once more just to die
for no cause better than an ancient lie
another marker in the long defeat
from places further than we've ever known
come signals in forms we would best expect
from those who speak the tongues of honest folk
visions of better places we are shown
told what prizes we ought now to select
and how to smile when we put on the yoke