All glory fades

What is this:
What is this key to no love
To no life
When they are burning the shops
And marching down the street
Of liberty

What is this pied sky
This chessboard we must walk
Or fly
With these chains
That bind us
Or tie us down

We are not machines
Oh statue, statue
Statue of you
That holds
All the flags of the city
All the flowers blooming pretty
Down the street of liberty

Who are these men on plinths
And Pedestals
Whom we look up to
And hold enthrall
What chains have they tied
Or bonds shattered
Whose lives once lived
Now died, what mattered
Was love

But all glory fades
As the bronze
That loses its lustre
Unlike the stars that cluster
In the constellations of space
And at least that look
Will get wiped off your face
In the end
At the end of the line
When they hook
You out the pond