By slight of hand we are mocked <br />The shopkeeper and the mason, <br />The politician with dalliance <br />Duped the native country's son. <br /> <br />Rich man poor man are the same <br />There is no difference in skin, <br />Nor the garments worn openly <br />Never will it cover over sin. <br /> <br />They will be taken to the prison <br />From the stone yard to the grave, <br />Proud men both in class and stock <br />Still they shall succumb a slave. <br /> <br />When bones are turned into the earth <br />And covered scarcely from the sun, <br />There to testify of deception's curse, <br />Or when the slight of hand is done. <br /> <br />Somehow a sacred law is laid to rest; <br />A monument erected on the backs of men, <br />Then from the annuls of ages past <br />The evidence is brought to light again. <br /> <br />What sins occur are often hidden deep, <br />Yet rise when those who made them die, <br />Forged when good men fall to sleep, <br />And wake to late to see the orphaned cry.<br /><br />Sidney Johnson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-good-men-fall-asleep/
