Even More Poems

Liar Supremo

On a political icon in 2024

Listen to him
How diligently he works at deception!
Lies about law
Lies about his rivals
Lies about foreigners
Lies about his biblical insight
Lies about political achievement
And stunted thinkers alas have become his acolytes
O mercy!
What a dangerous man he is
How his words have deadly significance
How our future survival
Depends on success for his rival
And so the game goes on
Self interest the motif
Of this rogue
Who would seize power like a thief
So note this well
The crimes they are a-changing
Malpractice is the norm for his followers
Slanted legal outcomes now favour the villain
Absolute power for a monocrat is the aim
World shattering tyranny is poised above us
Ready to turn what we know and love
Into a morass of self interest for a winner
So think again you sad votaries of immorality
Choose another
Ere our Paradise becomes an Abaddon*

*This is a biblical reference to inter alia a pit or abyss of Hell

The Law Is An Ass

When law can do no right,
Let it be lawful that law can do no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law.
King John, 3.1.189: Constance to Cardinal Pandulf

The law is an ass**
When there is no separation of the powers
Look at him
That asinine politician
Who fills the judiciary with puppets of his will
Look what he has done
Made justice a pretence
An imposture
A fraud
A counterfeit
A charlatan’s agenda
He’s looming now with deadly ambitious claws
Waiting to seize our way of life
Put it in his pocket
And rule us according to his own schemes
So Hitler lives again
Attila the Hun
Vlad the Impaler
Ivan the Terrible
And Joseph Stalin
All’s well that bends well according to a ploy
As freedom dies a tragic, painful death

**An expression said to be coined by Dickens in Oliver Twist.

Conscience

See that thinking soul
Acting in ways her conscience tells her to
Supporting the truth
And doing an unpopular damaging deed
For the sake of justice and integrity
What a burden it is
To do what’s right
In spite of punitive political norms
See too the punishment that falls upon her head
In response to her morality
Cast aside by her colleagues
Expelled by her leader
Pilloried by the sensational media
Ah yes
There is always trouble
For those who don’t comply
With the in mores of a given time
Such a deadly act
So reckless
So inappropriate it must be punished
So get thee to a nunnery***
Or place of similar ostracism
Says the captain of a ship
That sails only in an approved direction
Away with you
So you walk the plank of dissent
Into waves of despair
And sink deserted in your nonconformity

*** Hamlet’s words to Ophelia

Autocracy

A Contemporary Observation

Look at that!
Can Hitler be around still?
Or is it just his influence?
Do you remember his powerful exciting catch cry?
Make Germany great again!
How this seduced his pliable followers
Swept him into power
Not through democracy
Absolutism was his modus operandi
Destruction of opponents
All of them without tolerance or mercy
Political sway to one party
Obeisant judiciary
Acquiescent, controlled media
Allegiance to chosen foreign powers
Orchestrated, seductive oratory
Ah yes
How well savants remember!
How careful they are
How they fear repetition
All this happened to me the other day
I thought I saw a retelling
A recurrence of the ugly past
A savage duplication of a hunger for power
No
It cannot be
History enlightens
So this must have been a dream
Or was it a nightmare?

Plutocracy

Hey!
We can’t do that Charles
That mining magnate is so powerful
She’s a constant source of Party funds
We have to stay in her good books
Can’t afford animosity with the election coming up
It’s a crucial time
Yes
I know that storms, floods and fires
Are killing people
Rebuilding after destruction is costly
But I know votes are important
I know green ones are increasing
I know carbon has a bad name abroad
And increasingly here too
But we just have to hide the truth a bit
Pitch a story about saving the costs of power
That should get us through
Ensure our survival
Yes
I am aware of reality
In fact that is my motivation
Survival is the first principle in politics
So we must appear competent
Aware of practicality
As we make sure all her mines stay open
Don’t give me that bull shit Charlie
What in God’s name
Has the future done for us?

royciebaby