Day 22 of NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2020!  The optional prompt being to use an idiomatic phrase from another language or popular in another country as a starting point.

Manuscripts Don't Burn
by Michael Doyle

Years ago when I was younger
Words ate at me with my own hunger
Certain that I had something to say
If only I might find the right way

For most of my younger days it felt right
Certain as I was to play at it light
Putting the words in the pocket of a song
Feeling the beat to where each might belong

Sometimes I would write stories too
Often meant to provide a sense of view
Learning that some felt some thought was not allowed
I wondered what it might be to be too proud

Living in a county where to tell a tale
Might end you up dead or land you in jail
Ideas belong in thought's marketplace
Freedom of press and all, I did embrace

Oh now, there's a precocious sentiment
That satire could be dangerous to government
Or even if it was just a bit stronger
Who'd have thought these notions held longer

That a person might not feel as they do
And if they did they shouldn't put out their view
How odd it was I thought as I held a new edition
That fear of rulers could enforce oral tradition

Committing their concepts to their memory
Leaving nothing written down as their legacy
I could just feel the frustration of tears
And even more now as my memory goes with my years

(c) April 22, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved