The Witch Trials Never Ended

[Intro - whispered gossip, voices moving around the room] Did you hear about her? I heard she's dangerous. I heard she's crazy. I heard she lives alone. I heard she doesn't go to church. [Silence] [Woman, dry and amused] Well... You heard an awful lot. Did you ever hear HER? [Ugly piano chord] [Verse 1 - razor-sharp rhythmic spoken rap] Sunday best and a sideways glance, Smile for the picture, sharpen the lance. Bless her heart, what a curious phrase, Sounds like a prayer while you're digging a grave. Coffee and cake, everybody's so sweet, Till somebody different walks down the street. Clutching your pearls, clutching your pride, What are you so afraid she'll find? She's got no husband? Well, isn't that sad? Maybe she learned from the last one she had. Maybe she watched what you tolerate, Decided her peace wasn't up for debate. You complain about yours every day of the week, Then call her immoral for choosing her peace. Funny how freedom looks like a sin To somebody frightened of looking within. [Pre-Chorus - breathless, accelerating] She doesn't behave! She doesn't belong! She doesn't agree! She must be wrong! She doesn't comply! She doesn't repent! She tells her own story? [Silence] How inconvenient. [Chorus - jagged, shouted and whispered] The witch trial never ended! They just changed the clothes! No more torches in the village, Just a thousand little stones! No flames in the square, No ropes in the trees, Just a whisper in the hallway And a rumor on the breeze. They didn't stop burning witches, They just learned to hide the smoke! And the dangerous woman speaking? [Whisper] She's the one who broke the joke. [Verse 2 - aggressive syncopated rap] Married, unmarried, divorced or alone, Somebody's always got a claim on your bones. Too loud, too quiet, too angry, too kind, Too much of a woman with too much of a mind. Be pretty, be pleasant, be endlessly giving, But don't start complaining about how you're living. We'll praise your survival once everything's past, But don't show your suffering while it's happening fast. And heaven forbid you should ask for a hand, From the people who preach that they understand. They'll tell you to pray, they'll tell you to smile, Then walk right on past you for mile after mile. A woman in trouble? Better keep clear! What if her sadness gets all over here? What if she cries? What if she speaks? What if her story makes somebody weak? [Spoken - disgusted laugh] Oh, honey... Compassion isn't contagious. But cruelty sure seems to be. [Chorus - dissonant female voices] The witch trial never ended! They just changed the game! Now the match is social exile, And the kindling is your name! They don't need to prove a thing, They just need a crowd. Tell her she's too emotional, Then punish her for getting loud! They didn't stop burning witches, They just learned to hide the smoke! And the woman they're accusing? Maybe she just finally spoke. [Bridge - detuned music box, childlike voice] When I was little, They taught me right from wrong. They said love your neighbor. They said everybody belongs. [Older woman, speaking] Then why does love have conditions? Why does kindness have a fee? Why are you so good at judging What you never cared to see? [Rhythm breaks apart] What if she isn't wicked? What if she's afraid? What if all the things you call her Are the things that you have made? What if she wasn't casting spells? What if she was telling truths? What if the scariest thing about her Is she remembers what you do? [Verse 3 - rapid-fire, increasingly chaotic] Shut up, sit down, swallow your shame, Smile for the neighbors, stay in your lane. Don't cry, don't rage, don't tell what you know, Don't spoil the service, don't interrupt the show. Be grateful! Be humble! Forgive and forget! But nobody's bothered to listen just yet. She needs attention! She needs a cure! She needs somebody to make her pure! [Sudden silence] No. She needs a world Where telling her story Doesn't cost her Her place in it. [Final Chorus - women entering at different times] The witch trial never ended! But we're putting out the flame! Not by burning someone different, Not by finding one more name. No more purity competitions! No more measuring who's clean! No more turning people's suffering Into evidence they're mean! Let her question! Let her grieve! Let her choose! Let her leave! You don't have to share her beliefs To let her live in peace! The witch trials never ended... [Music stops] But maybe... We could end it. [Outro - one piano key, then another horribly wrong one] [Woman, almost laughing] Imagine that. A world where a woman can speak... And nobody brings a match. [Whisper] What a radical idea. [Door closes]