They strung you out as Christmas lights
All twinkling and white
Then dressed you up in playclothes
To create a lovely sight

Blank-faced polished mannequins
So happy holding signs
Spell out their agenda
On a platform by design

Shiny plastic people
Propped up on a glittered stage
Never realizing
They’ve created their own cage

Pulled along with velvet ropes
Our future is enraptured
Lulled to sleep with promises
How easily we’re captured

The show’s just getting started
As the sun begins to fade
Smiling as we’re dying
While we’re watching the parade

For who is called to own the future
Life is up for sale
Control is an illusion,
and success, The Holy Grail

To live a life on floats
With paper flowers for our feet
While melting in the sunshine
With your skin so sticky sweet

A cracked recording blast
A worn-out message to the crowd
But they can’t hear a thing
Because they’re shouting
Much too loud

Steel boots set the pacing
As the people raise their hands
Pledging their allegiance
To a lie for which it stands

Do you hear the future calling
While in the balance weighed
So easy killing minutes
When we’re watching the parade

But I digress, I must confess
We must be on our way
Farther down the route to where
We meet our judgment day

Onward to the place
Where there is never any doubt
The ones who have are very few
While all the rest must do without

So wave your flags and shoot your guns
And follow down the path
Present yourself with fear
And trembling on this day of wrath

In silent numbers on a pad
You’re rated for your style
You crave awards
Like golden gourds
And wallow in denial

Can you feel the cuts they’re making?
Do you feel the blade
Everything looks perfect
As we’re watching the parade

Like weather vanes will change directions
With the winds that blow
We’re twisted to the point
Where we don’t know which way to go

While on the sidelines, people cheer
And scream out their contempt
They advocate complacency
While inside, they resent

They can’t decide on whom to follow
Unless they are deceived
They need a reason to deny
And someone to believe

Smiling while they’re praying
With words of hope and change
The band continues playing
But the song remains the same

Can you feel the change that’s coming
Do you feel betrayed
Living in the shadows
While we’re watching the parade

And after we suspend belief
Delusion rules the day
Creates an image on a screen
Of what we think and say

And now the sun has gone away
The skies have turned to rain
Paper flowers turn to mush
And leave a bloody stain

The crowd is quite unruly
And they’re voicing their distrust
No longer are they pacified
With songs and pixie dust

No one likes the signs you’ve made
Your message isn’t clear
Words of war and peace and love
All come across as fear

It seems our dreams were stolen
As we slept inside the day
Forgetting to remember
As we’re watching the parade

From both sides of the street
You find that you are the divide
You’re searching for escape
But find there is no place to hide

The people rush the float as one
And pull it to the ground
You run like rats through city streets
As they all chase you down

But little do the people know
The hunters are the game
For once they finally see the show
They all will take the blame

Now the hyper-frenzied people
Radiate and scour
Hunting for the privileged few
And something to devour

They can’t remember why they came
The year, the month, the day
For life looks very different
When you’re part of the parade

With not a second thought in mind
As why they’re so inclined
To damage and destroy the world
As one collective mind

The seeds were planted long ago
And watered with deception
And now the goals of evil minds
Have manifest perfection

Within the form of total chaos
Mayhem and destruction
The crowd goes mad as they embrace
The New World introduction

A float full of magicians
Politicians wringing hands
Musicians mystifying
Crucifying on demand

We wanted entertainment
The price we gladly paid
Surrounded by complacency
Watching the parade

Now rusted chains and black pajamas
Are the clothes you wear
They’ve taken everything you own
And cut off all your hair

You cannot buy or sell without
A stamp upon your head
The dreams you built your life upon
Are long since left for dead

Your glasses, rings, and gold tooth smiles
Are put in giant boxes
Then melted down to New World coins
To pay for your excesses

Your blood and bones and DNA
Are filed away for tracking
Just in case you’re needed
For what someone else is lacking

We wait inside our prison homes
Accept the mess we’ve made
Watching from our TV walls
The masters on parade

For men now think themselves as gods
And want to live forever
And people are for harvesting
To bring forth their endeavor

So think while you still have a mind
Instead of beehive-thinking
And be aware of where you’re heading
As your freedom’s shrinking

The social engineers will guide you
To your happy ending
It’s pure divide-and-conquer
In the message that they’re sending

The plans of madmen pulling strings
And driving toward insane
As subtle as a serpent
Slowly slithers down a drain

Be careful with the space you leave
Between the words you say
Your life is lost in blind degrees
While watching the parade

TM DiSarro

©2023 TM DiSarro / Mindscapes Publishing

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