Children's Crusade

The first Children's Crusade enslaved  
the gullible and dimwitted.    
But none of us - it seems - are saved    
from child soldier naifs, outwitted    
by propaganda of depraved    
greedy predators.  Ill fitted    
is reason to hysteria -    
like talking to diphtheria.    
    
With sincerity beyond doubt,    
their decency is weaponised.    
The modern Fagins send them out    
to pick the pockets of the despised;    
with carbon trading there's no lout    
to show the theft and be compromised.    
As to this rehearsal scheming -    
a prelude to taxing breathing.