Power paves from cave to grave
Man has paddled to the powerful and strong,
Worshipping what would not to his wish wield,
Commanding weak-kneed, committing all wrong,
E'er since the days of caves and battlefield,
Power from the days of cave, power to the grave,
Power in the name of principles to save.
He that rises to heights of stratosphere,
He that holds power to heart's near and dear,
Afraid of honest peer, always in fear
Of losing power, scared that law may interfere,
Afraid, flow of power may interrupt,
To him does power conspire to corrupt.
And today stray caps in sarkari house,
Looking holy in chair, or harmless cows,
The polling polls once return them to rule,
Turn in to bull as crown's precious jewel,
The powerhouse ready power to disburse,
To nurse cronies from people's tax-paid purse.
Each power cap, a poisonous creature,
Each having an exaggerated view
Of his cap, that evaporates not unlike dew,
But grasping-to-the-grave as its feature,
Crying out still like starving babes— ‘give, give',
Like hungry maw it knows but to receive.
But we that glibly put power to hell-hands—
Hands alas of a power-hungry tyrant,
Ne'er once cavil that they've turned faceless friends
To people, nor are fair to trust ere lent,
Nor wonder why their face is now turned ‘way,
The face that had begged and beseeched one day.
We that should know well democracy's staple:
Unbridled power we aught abolish;
In practice yet, we push up our own people,
So, long as power prevails, rulers and ruled
Shall ever be, so be the shahs, slavish,
Our own tools exploiting O the exploited fools!
We too know well: power roots down from the mind,
Rooting humane, gentle virtue, scarce vice,
Greater the power, greater the grab we find;
The voter scarce bewares; power, a loaded dice,
Fails, as a diamond should dazzle, to strike
Beholders no less than holders alike!
Dignifying the meanest of the means,
Magnifying whilst the midgets of smallish minds,
Deigning dignity to the contemptible scenes,
To exalted chair lowly that e'er winds,
If it can intoxicate best of hearts,
I shudder to think, what it can to warts.
Laws are oft laid power to perpetuate,
And in the statute lie on power's cue,
Let the civil acquiescing most not wait
To stall the slavery of week-kneed few;
Power per se seldom corrupts, I trust,
What does is her illegitimate child called lust.
Beware; power concedes naught without clamour,
It watches, if people submit to more,
To know what injustice and wrong to lever,
And would last till resisted, words or war;
Rare if wisdom with power marries so well,
For, their loyalty lasts but a short spell.
Beware O much-ruled man, the strong ne'er lust
For power, rooted ‘tis in the weak, unjust;
If human mind prone to pride is without,
O how much more would it with power's clout!
Man, a power-admiring vainest of toad,
A slave in mind, he loves a tyrant odd.
He is the power-providing ready plug,
The parent raising corruptible child,
Now bribing with sweet, now letting pass drug,
Under his cold nose are these habits piled;
He indulges till spread wide is the pestilence,
The child he's taxing his parent's patience.
Beware; a switch-less power be to a prince,
As wine and woman work as a red rag,
Bribe to a bureaucrat, for long, long since,
Avarice to old age, musk to the stag,
Vanity to vain, to greedy a gratis grant;
Ah, of all passions, lust of power is most fragrant.
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- Satire | 03.05.11 |
poem by Aniruddha Pathak
Added by Poetry Lover
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