I’m stealthy, sneaky, sly
You’ll never catch me in the midst of a lie
For I never lie
I must enter center stage
My audience watching,
My head held high
I’m a mighty, masked magician, not a spy
Dressed up in black, I step into the light,
Gracefully greeting my crowd for tonight,

“I’m not a clever politician
I don’t use leverage and false facts
I don’t stun my crowd with flashy tactics
I prove my promises with actual acts”

“I won’t take your human emotions by storm,
I wouldn’t take advantage, I give my word!
I’m a magician
I’ll change the form
Of this hunk of clay
Into a living, breathing bird
That will fly away”

“Do it!” the audience sings,
“Oh, Magician, so grand!”
I silence their praise
With an upraised hand
I’m a modest man,
Unused to frantic fans

I hold up the dry dirt clod,
Sneaking a prideful peak at their faces so awed
It’s a good thing for them
They’ve come to no fraud
I’ll perform magic
Until they applaud

A hush has fallen,
A drum roll sounds
I crumble the clod,
Flinging the pieces to the crowd
The clash of a triumphant cymbal resounds

They jump up from their seats
As confetti rains down
The dirt clod is gone, dusting the ground
Now they pause to look around

On stage I stand, in my glorious stance
A panic pricking at my spine,
They begin the fool’s accusation dance
“Where’s the bird, you swine?”
“You said there’d be a bird!”
“You said it would fly to heights unheard!”

Silently, I curse my stagehands down below
Do they realized they ruin me?
My seething anger grows
Their only task was to flick a latch,
A quick flash of light,
And from dirt!
The bird would seem to be hatched!

“Phony, Liar!” the swarm calls with surprise,
“He’s just a politician in a magician’s disguise!”
“No!” I cry, “I never lie!
Here------ I’m sincere!
Look into my eyes!”

“Swine, liar,” a man spoke with fire
Then he turns and sings to his angry choir,
“And the crafty crook won’t apologize!”
When he promised us change!
Let’s ensure this “mighty magician’s” demise!”

My life flashes before my eyes,
Time and color intertwined
Mistakes, masks, identities
I’d forgotten how many there were of these
Like a trick did they transform before my eyes
Into black smoke and slithering lies,
In a place of darkness I accept my prize