Oratory

Oratory of hope and glory, a whisper and a rhyme
An effigy, a soldier out of time
Citizen and patriot you can't be far behind
The funeral is weighting heavy on your mind

Requiem! Bring the dissident from slumber
Requiem! Raise the rebel from its grave
Requiem! Sound the revolution's thunder
A monumental blunder averted and betrayed

Dig around the cemetery, a record of the day
Friends and neighbors in stages of decay
But the saddest thing of all eludes discovery
The stimulus for this somber ceremony

The sanctimonious minions, how they grovel at the feet
Authority is populist deceit
Pity yet another casualty's demoralized decline
Just a victim of irrational design