My country used to be a place
where one would not be tossed from grace
because they didn’t hold some point of view.

Where free speech was the cherished thing
because it does make freedom ring!
A fact that young and old both praised and knew.

But now we monitor each thought
because our products won’t be bought
if we say something deemed to be “unclean.”

We examine every word
for even if just wrongly heard
an “impure” phrase can make one a has-been.

Our decades of good thought and deed
mean nothing if we do not heed
adherence to all thought/speech sacred rules!

The saintly life that we have led
is erased if they claim we said
one thing that they say casts us with the fools!

Since I am old and soon will die
I simply shrug and heave a sigh
as thought control becomes our way of life.

I never did expect to see
the zeitgeist of our great country
become just like my rigid loud ex-wife.