They'll Come For You, Too

First, they'll silence the teachers,

The writers, the theaters,

The arts and the poets,

Gone before you'll know it.

/

Soon after, it's the radio waves,

The news, the Web, any Internet page,

The escape routes will dwindle down,

You'll hear the jackboots stomp the ground.

/

Next will be the rioters,

The marginalized, the defiers,

Wiped out in bloody crusades,

Lynched, massacred, and hanged.

/

Next the round-ups will begin,

To be purged, raped, and/or imprisoned for sins,

Sins against the state, sins against men,

Who want to make women breeders once again.

/

They'll take your little boys by force,

To train up big and strong, more bodies for war.

They'll take your little girls as well,

Their innocence and virginity are commodities for sale.

/

And the little ones who don't conform,

Will be brainwashed and reformed.

They'll grow up without love,

And become as brutal as the powers above.

/

No one will be safe from their surveillance,

Not even if you followed them and pledged your allegiance.

They'll use you and discard you, like burnt matchsticks cast aside,

And not even you will be able to escape the tide.

/

Can't you feel it in the air?

The tidal wave encroaching near,

Brimming with the icy quell,

Of freedom's last ringing bell.

/

I fear that when they come for me,

I will have chosen to die freely.

For I am not brave nor strong enough,

To endure the othering suffered thus.

/

I fear for the future, because the signs are all here,

Tyranny can happen anywhere, no matter how you prepare.

No matter how devoted, you'll feel dread from the final coup...

And when they're done with us, they'll come for you, too.