Indefinitely Detained

I once had a country whose name was hope-
But the name became fetid and blasted
And the light that was sought now flickered
And smoke and ashes stood in its place
For the horrible ghastly fear that remained
Gave a mocking lisp of a smile
To the petty and fiendish crowd of gawkers at the gate
Of the tomb which was hope, now palsied and mute
Into a pit where forever a gnawing takes hold
On the source of a light once thought glorious and bold

The tale is an old one --it lulls into sleep
The forlorn remains
Of the feast that we still keep
In the mind fast receding
To its final repose
As the quenching of mission is tortured with sleep
Far too damning to be mere fantasy's prison
All thought of future--a crime now become

The law newly minted says much of this race
Of cowardly forlorn life -- without grace.