Endless Game Of Power
© Surazeus
2018 11 15
Modern politics is so much more subtle
now within our democratic republic,
where people outmaneuver other people
through strategy of wits to obtain power,
like they are at center of power in empires,
than in earlier times where gangs of men
clutching weapons would follow boldest leader
to kill each other in fierce brutal combat.
They destroy each other through subtle means
by using news media to present lies
distorting image of their character
which ruins their career and leaves them lost
rather than swinging sharp sword to attack
and kill their opponent with slashing blade,
so people vote them from official post
where they would decide how to spend tax dollars.
My ancestors hacked off heads with sharp swords
and controlled castles in bleak wilderness
to manage peasants growing fields of wheat
then hauling produce in wagons of wood,
but now I work as map cartographer,
composing models of the complex world,
rather than work as governor or judge,
deciding whether people live or die.
Outmaneuvered from positions of power
through order of birth or more subtle wits,
my ancestors sailed west across the sea
and built new city in fresh wilderness
that grew into democratic republic
where we vote for people to reign as kings
in constant revolution of new power
to keep our politics vibrant and fresh.
The secure castle that once kept us safe
as private haven, forming paradise
of strong walls surrounding garden courtyard,
nurtured our way of life so we spread out
beyond its walls to colonize waste land,
so now the castle has become the prison
where criminals are locked to keep us safe
while we build vast cities with towers of glass.
If our complex empire of capital
were to collapse into chaos of greed
would we again build castles on high hills
and revert to men wearing crowns of gold
to play in pageant of authority
by claiming unseen god chose them as king,
or can we rebuild elective republic
to maintain subtle methods wielding power?
I might claim I am Emperor of the World
and sit in gold chair in huge marble dome
to play incarnation of God on Earth
so people bow before idol of power
while I perform role of the Fisher King
even though I exercise no real power
since people now live however they want
while I issue laws everyone ignores.
I rule the world in fragile house of cards,
maneuvering kings on the global chess board,
recording deeds in chronicle of rulers
by narrating their lives how I decide
since winners write the history of the world
when poets present characters of leaders
as good or bad in endless game of power.
© Surazeus
2018 11 15
Modern politics is so much more subtle
now within our democratic republic,
where people outmaneuver other people
through strategy of wits to obtain power,
like they are at center of power in empires,
than in earlier times where gangs of men
clutching weapons would follow boldest leader
to kill each other in fierce brutal combat.
They destroy each other through subtle means
by using news media to present lies
distorting image of their character
which ruins their career and leaves them lost
rather than swinging sharp sword to attack
and kill their opponent with slashing blade,
so people vote them from official post
where they would decide how to spend tax dollars.
My ancestors hacked off heads with sharp swords
and controlled castles in bleak wilderness
to manage peasants growing fields of wheat
then hauling produce in wagons of wood,
but now I work as map cartographer,
composing models of the complex world,
rather than work as governor or judge,
deciding whether people live or die.
Outmaneuvered from positions of power
through order of birth or more subtle wits,
my ancestors sailed west across the sea
and built new city in fresh wilderness
that grew into democratic republic
where we vote for people to reign as kings
in constant revolution of new power
to keep our politics vibrant and fresh.
The secure castle that once kept us safe
as private haven, forming paradise
of strong walls surrounding garden courtyard,
nurtured our way of life so we spread out
beyond its walls to colonize waste land,
so now the castle has become the prison
where criminals are locked to keep us safe
while we build vast cities with towers of glass.
If our complex empire of capital
were to collapse into chaos of greed
would we again build castles on high hills
and revert to men wearing crowns of gold
to play in pageant of authority
by claiming unseen god chose them as king,
or can we rebuild elective republic
to maintain subtle methods wielding power?
I might claim I am Emperor of the World
and sit in gold chair in huge marble dome
to play incarnation of God on Earth
so people bow before idol of power
while I perform role of the Fisher King
even though I exercise no real power
since people now live however they want
while I issue laws everyone ignores.
I rule the world in fragile house of cards,
maneuvering kings on the global chess board,
recording deeds in chronicle of rulers
by narrating their lives how I decide
since winners write the history of the world
when poets present characters of leaders
as good or bad in endless game of power.
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