To my mind the worst thing that a human being can do is harm a child
It is like planting a seed of shadows in their constitution
Which is their innocence and their light
And the only thing that you can do is concentrate on that seed
And watch it grow
Because it was planted there by someone that you know
Someone who spent time with you when you were alone
Some one who got close
Could have been a favourite high school teacher
Maybe a hockey coach or Boy Scout leader
Of course it could have been a priest
It could have been a preacher
If you are a pastor and you work in a school for the deaf
And the hearing impaired children are the ones that you consistently molest
Their classmates will never hear them scream
Look at the Cornwall Inquiry
Cops Lawyers Judges and Priests
They smuggled children in from the third world and sold them
Into slavery child prostitution and child pornography
At the trial
The Judge kept everything a secret
All names were redacted
There was a publication ban
And a judicial order not to disclose
We covered it all up and we let them go
It is not organized crime it is organized evil
A Conspiracy of Shame that goes all the way up to the Pope
Down in the Islands
In the places where I know
Where the mountains are green all the way to the top
And the bees place their hives in the volcanic rock
And they will pollinate all of the plantations you’ve got
Where there is cool spring water when the sun is hot
In paradise
Where life flourishes
If you harm a child
The elders will come to your house and ask you one question
Why
If guiltiness rests on your conscience it is something that you cannot hide
There is no excuse and their is no lie
They will tell you it is time to go
And when you step outside
You will see the face of everybody you have ever known in your life
They are going to look you in the eye for the very last time
In silence we will walk you down to the seaside
We gonna put you in a little boat
We gonna take you for a little ride
When the water is smooth like glass
Before the waxing moon tide or the warm sunrise causes the waves to come alive
We slit the throat of a chicken and we drag it along side to make a blood trail
And the sharks will come
Without fail
We’ll carve a sigma and a chi in your chest
We’ll put the rope around your neck
And out of respect
We’ll recite a prayer – Matthew 18:10
For anyone who should offend the little ones who believeth in me
It is better for them that a millstone be placed about their neck
And they were drowned at the bottom of the sea
Might sound like a perverse interpretation of some scriptures that are supposed to be sacred
I don’t know if you can find justice and peace fighting hatred with hatred
More disgusting than that
Is the legislation of my nation
Because in Canada if you get charged with child molestation
You’re probably a cop or a lawyer or a judge or a priest
Or a high school teacher or a hockey coach or a boy scout leader
And because 92.5 % of them are rich white men
We don’t burn them at the stake
We don’t stone them to death
We won’t go get a rope
We cover it all up
And we let them go
It’s not organized crime
It is organized evil
A Conspiracy of Shame*
That goes all the way up to the Pope
*The phrase “Conspiracy of Shame” is the title of a poem written by Rusty Priske.
