Puritan Thinking

You cast your gaze, sharp and cold/ A relic of Salem, a story retold/ Convictions weigh heavy, though truth stands clear/ Yet you brand me alarming, fueled by fear/ Your judgement looms, a shadowed stake/ Bound by laws, yet the fire you'd make/ If time unshackled your hands today/ Would I see the embers of history's fray/ Puritan echoes, they linger still/ Through whispers low and sharpened will/ Not robes and hats, nor torches bright/ Yet still you strike with veiled delight/ I am a person with rights to defend/ My faith, my freedom, no need to amend/ No shame, no guilt, no crime in sight/ Yet you twist belief into blinding fright/ You see the world in black and white/ A rigid mind, afraid of light/ Yet truth will stand where flames may fall/ And justice calls beyond your wall/ Let laws restrain what hands would do/ But laws can't cleanse the thoughts in you/ Puritan thinking, aged yet bold/ Still walks among us, shrouded in gold/