FREAKS

 

                                            No-one would pretend that 'freaks'

                                            Were in a majority in the lower class;

                                            For they are conspicuously a tiny minority

                                            Compared with that great mass of philistines

                                            Who constitute the proletarian generality.

                                            Undoubtedly the most culturally precocious members

                                            Of their class, they are the type

                                            From whom a future leadership could be drawn,

                                            A type who are civilized ...

                                            On their own outsider's terms

                                            In advance of the generality

                                            And who, once in power,

                                            Would transmit their culture to the masses

                                            And thus make them more civilized in due turn,

                                            Having first pioneered the way

                                            In an unofficial capacity

                                            Within the church/state civilization

                                            And acquired a knowledge of and allegiance to

                                            The transcendental culture to-come.

                                            But by a curious paradox

                                            Their future role would place them

                                            Outside the mainstream culture of the People.

                                            For you cannot transmit culture

                                            And be civilized at the same time.

                                            What you gain on the unofficial roundabout

                                            You must lose on the official swings.

                                            Civilized in advance of the masses,

                                            You cannot be civilized with them.