Tom Swifty - The Choice

Once in a distant land, a whispering man passed on a tale
To the next man, to the next woman, to the next child without fail
And now I pass it on to you in the hopes to teach, or to
Enrich your soul, or entertain you at least

Once there was a criminal who, as criminals often do
Committed a crime and was placed before a magistrate in judgment true
Upon proclaiming him guilty in a rich and booming voice
The magistrate offered the criminal the following choice
Behind this door, he said, pointing, lies that of which you're unsure
In my other hand I hold the rope I'll use to hang you and make you pure
To be absolved of your crime, I offer you this simple rhyme
And I hope you have the wisdom to choose, or maybe you will in time

The criminal was given a day in which to ponder what choice to make
And he was wise enough to know that you can't eat it first and then have your cake
The decision he'd make was binding, there was no chance of rewinding
And if he chose the door, he thought, the magistrate wouldn't decline to bring
Terrors worse than death from behind it, and he'd surely find it
Worse for having perceived the contract's outcome when he signed it
In the morning the criminal was sobbing when the magistrate called him
And asked him what choice he'd made about the fate that would befall him
The criminal was terrified of the door because he was so sure
That behind it lay 700 or more different kinds of torture
The images of which he'd conceived the night before left him with no hope
So with tears in his eyes he resigned himself to his fate and chose the rope
The magistrate laughed and said: In all my years of magistrating
Everyone has always chosen the rope with little debating
And now I'll tell you the punchline since you soon will be dead
The door leads to freedom, but everyone's so afraid of the unknown
They choose death instead

Written by:
Ezra Stead

Publisher:
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid

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