In the back room was an altar

upon which good men

 

sacrificed other good men

in the name of industry.

 

One day, these good men

sacrificed a righteous man

 

in the name of perfidy, and in time

they became executioners–

 

from then on, all meetings

became a record of their descent

 

and secrets were sealed in envelopes

and dropped into a fire at the edge of the city.