The Zealot Gene
[Numbers 25: 7-11, Ezekiel 9: 4-7]
Half of us are in the apple;
Half of us are in the pie
All of us are in the pudding
When the last bus has gone by
Someone has to take the high road
Someone has to make the bed
No-one has the right to tell you
To lie down when all is said
The black and white, the stereotype
The polarising pitch at play
While some of us sit in between
Interminable shades of grey
No need to walk the tightrope
Set out on that great divide
The balance scales may tremble
But the featherweights are on our side
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene:
Naked flame near gasoline
The populist with dark appeal
The pandering to hate
Which xenophobic scaremongers
Deliver on a plate
To tame the pangs of hunger
And satisfy the lust
Slave to ideology
Moderation bites the dust
Bee buzzing in your bonnet
And a wasp right up the bum
A V-8 under hood
A cocked hammer under thumb
Ear-splitting twitter thunder
And a screaming banshee wail
You got too many opinions
And a tom cat by the tail
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene:
Naked flame near gasoline
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene
Naked flame near gasoline
Half of us are in the apple
Half of us are in the pie
All of us are in the pudding
When the last bus has gone by
Someone has to take the high road
Someone has to make the bed
No-one has the right to tell you
To lie down when all is said
The black and white, the stereotype
The polarising pitch at play
While some of us sit in between
Interminable shades of grey
No need to walk the tightrope
Set out on that great divide
The balance scales may tremble
But the featherweights are on our side
Carrying the Zealot gene
Right or left, no in between
Beware, beware the Zealot gene
Naked flame near gasoline