Where Will You Be, When They Come

Where Will You Be, When They Come


Boots are being polished
Trumperters clean their horns
Chains and locks forged
The crusade has begun.

Once again flags of Christ are unfurled in the dawn
and cries of soul saviors sing apocalyptic on air waves.

Citizens, good citizens all parade into voting booths
and in self-righteous sanctity X away our right to life.

I do not believe as some that the vote is an end,
I fear even more
It is just a beginning.

So I must make assessment
Look to you and ask:
Where will you be when they come?

They will not come a mob rolling through the streets,
but quickly and quietly move into our homes and remove the evil,
the queerness,the faggotry,the perverseness from their midst.
They will not come clothed in brown, and swastikas, or
bearing chest heavy with gleaming crosses.
The time and need for ruses are over.
They will come in business suits to buy your homes
and bring bodies to fill your jobs.
They will come in robes to rehabilitate
and white coats to subjugate and where will you be
when they come?

Where will we *all be* when they come?
And they will come --

they will come because we are defined as opposite --
perverse and we are perverse.

Every time we watched a queer hassled in the streets and said nothing --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we lied about the boyfriend or girlfriend at coffee break --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we heard, "I don't mind gays
but why must they be blatent?" and said nothing --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we let a lesbian mother lose her child and did not fill the courtroom --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we let straights make out in our bars while
we couldn't touch because of laws --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we put on the proper clothes to go to a family
wedding and left our lovers at home --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we heard
"Who I go to bed with is my personal choice --
It's personal not political" and said nothing --
It was an act of perversion.

Everytime we let straight relatives bury our dead and push our lovers away --
It was an act of perversion.

And they will come.
They will come for the perverts

& it won't matter if you're
homosexual, not a faggot
lesbian, not a dyke
gay, not queer
It won't matter
if you
own your business
have a good job
or are on S.S.I.
It won't matter
if you're
Black
Chicano
Native American
Asian
or White
It won't matter
if you're from
New York
or Los Angeles
Galveston
or Sioux Falls
It won't matter
if you're
Butch, or Fem
Not into roles
Monogamous
Non Monogamous
It won't matter
if you're
Catholic
Baptist
Atheist
Jewish
or M.C.C.

They will come
They will come
to the cities and to the land
to your front rooms and in *your* closets.

They will come for the perverts and where will you be
When they come?
-- Pat Parker
Copyright 1978