The criminal and artist both break laws,
Distorting effects by hiding the cause;
In Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby,
The mind of the audience is free
To meditate on things—but why
Is carefully hidden from the eye.
The origin is covered up
In the dark drink of the offered cup.
Rosemary is out like a light when
The conception occurs, and for the birth,
She is unconscious again.
The things we think we know,
Do we know, do we know?
We, the audience understand
That art and news come to us second hand.
We see the terrible result, and infer
The obvious cause. We blame the tiger
And not the meek artist who smiles.
The world is full of wiles.
The propagandist not only breaks laws—
If the result is true, he invents the cause.