James

“Chorus:
The Kings are our dear fathers
Under whose care we live in peace
The Kings are our dear fathers
Under whose care we live in peace
Marat:
And the children repeated the lesson they believed it
As anyone believes
What they hear over and over again
And over and over again the priests said
Our love embraces all mankind
Of every colour race and creed
Our love is international universal
We are all brothers every one
And the priests looked down into the pit of injustice
And they turned their faces away and said
Our Kingdom is not as the kingdom of this world
Our life on earth is out a pilgrimage
The soul lives on humility and patience
At the same time screwing from the poor their last centime
They settled down among their treasures
And ate and drank with princes
And to the starving they said
Suffer
Suffer as he suffered on the cross
For it is the will of God
And anyone believes what they hear over and over again
So the poor instead of bread made do with a picture
Of the bleeding scourged and nailed-up Christ
And prayed to that image of their helplessness
And the priests said
Raise your hands to heaven bend your knees
And bear your suffering without complaint
For prayer and blessing are the only stairways
Which you can climb to Paradise
And so they chained down the poor in their ignorance
So that they wouldn't stand up and fight their bosses
Who ruled in the name of the lie of divine right
Chorus:
Amen”
― Peter Weiss, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade