People's Power

I clamour for power and wealth
But they say you must be humble
"Don't show your fangs so early."
I listened to the masters
Who ruled the earth of yore
With finesse and gore
After first deceiving the masses
With messages of hope and joy.

"So gullible are the masses!
Feed them with promises
Give them a glimpse of riches
And surely you can ensnare them!"
So intones my demonic teachers
Whose sway over the plebeian hordes
Comes in easy gradual steps
Of false vows and robust flattery.

I bided my time in obeisance
And played my cards wisely
Never showing my devilish schemes
But slowly pandering to raw emotions
Working up all the baser instincts
To such pitch of intensity
That all threw their lot with me
In a feverish dance of popular folly.

Then in blows fast and furious
I strike with fists of metal
And lay waste all blithe dreams
And put paid to all wishful thinking
Such grip I have over them all
That none dare oppose my will
Nor let out shouts of freedom
In my land turned quiet and solemn.

Sodden with so much power
Weighed down with so much wealth
I care not the collective groaning
Swelling from all distant parts
Merging into visceral loathing
Of my august bejeweled person
But more venom I unleash
In a mindless display of strength.

Alas! like my masters of bygone eras
Along paths measured in similar fate
My scepter of unquestioned authority
Soon was lost and broken in a tumult
Of deep dissent and open revolt
Fangs blunted, sovereignty dented
Tis' people's power that reigns supreme.

~Phlip Rodrigues~

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