The Clerical Conspiracy

"I have wealth beyond measure-

My treasures are words

Forged by time in a tale of

Such beauty they cry to be heard.

Still a young fool was I as

My story begins,

Yet like all fools considered

Myself to be wise -

A match for all things.

But the lessons I've learned

I will never forget,

When your teacher is life then

Success is survival and

Failure is death.

From early years I saw the world

Through tunnel-vision eyes,

My cloistered mind philosophized

And fossilized,

Secure in my belief was I -

Assured throughout my life the

Only things that could sustain me

Were the words of Jesus Christ."

"There is no way to fight a foe

Who strikes from the inside,

And once within we can begin to

Smite this pagan pride.

We shall take their graven images

And grind them in the dirt,

For that men can live in paradise

Must be the Devils work."

[BROTHERS OF THE HOLY ORDER:]

"The clerical conspiracy begins,

We shall wash away your sins-

We have come to purify,

To purge you of your liberty-

Absolve you of all sanity,

The 'truth' you want to hear

We shall provide."

"How can we hope to save these

Heathen when we know not of

Their ways,

One of us must journey southward-

Infiltrate and then assuage.

Only when we have this knowledge

Can we finalise our plans,

Greet them with a velvet glove-

Then crush them 'neath an iron hand."

Christian soldiers armed with virtue-

Hearts afire with blind obsession

Cannot see the difference 'twixt

Compassion and oppression

"These were the days I believed that

Salvation was mine,

When I worshipped apostles

Believing their gospels to be divine.

My life drifted by in a warm summer haze-

And I thought I would bath in the light

Of our lord 'till the end of my days.

But destiny mocked me-

And fate did bequest,

That the strength of my faith in

The Lord God Almighty be put to the test."

"My son your word is matchless as

A scribe you have been blessed,

Your skill and faith in God doth

Qualify you for our quest.

You will sail to Southern England

And recount their blasphemies,

For the first step in their cure

Must be to learn of theit disease."

"For one so young so great an honour

To be chosen for this task,

Have I the stength-

Would I be worthy?

Questions that I dared not ask.

Was I to be a missionary searching

For lost souls to save-

Or just another pawn in their

Monastic power games?"

[BROTHERS OF THE HOLY ORDER:]

"The clerical conspiracy begins,

We shall wash away your sins-

We have come to purify,

To purge you of your liberty-

Absolve you of all sanity,

The 'truth' you want to hear

We shall provide."

"How can we hope to save these

Heathen when we know not of

Their ways,

You Wat Brand must journey southward-

Infiltrate and then assuage.

Only when we have this knowledge

Can we finalise our plans,

Greet them with a velvet glove-

Then crush them 'neath an iron hand."

Christian soldiers armed with virtue-

Hearts afire with blind obsession

Cannot see the difference 'twixt

Compassion and oppression.

"And so with terror in my heart

I learned what had to be,

That I must tour these foriegn shores-

My cross for company.

Those who had preceded me

Of pagan devils warned-

With fearful tales of christian souls

Since martyred on their horns.

In my tale I will tell how we

All were decieved-

For in truth I was hunted not

Hunter as I had believed.

How could I have known that the

Guide they'd provide was to

Show me far more than I'd ever

Imagined I could have desired?

So soon would I learn

What a fool I had been,

There is more than one side to a coin-

Life is not what it seems ...

It's no more than a dream."