Thieves. Cowards. Betrayers of the land.
Amada Paul Israel@israelamadapaul172464
15 days ago
"To the Thrones That Failed Us"
They sat upon high chairs,
not of honor,
but of rot.
Draped in borrowed robes,
they called themselves leaders
yet led no one,
but themselves.
They wore the nation like a garment,
stained it,
tore it,
sold it for coin,
and left it at the feet of beggars
to stitch again.
One came with a paper heart,
promising change
but brought famine instead.
Another ruled with an iron fist,
then returned with a smile
to rule with empty hands.
They were caretakers in name only.
Caretakers of their pockets,
their clans,
their own legacies.
The rest of us?
Collateral.
Shadows.
Silence.
The poor have known only this:
to toil,
to suffer,
to bury children
whose only crime
was being born in the wrong country.
In the north
gunmen howl louder than prayer.
In the south
oil bleeds from the earth
but the people drink rust.
On the highways,
bandits write the law.
In the forests,
terror plants flags.
And from the hilltops of government,
there is nothing
but whispers and wealth.
What of the president?
A title.
A shadow behind tinted glass.
A man too far to hear the screams
beneath the rubble.
A name with no soul,
a face carved from indifference.
Where are the men
who swore to lead?
Gone
into convoys,
into villas,
into the fog of foreign lands
where their children sleep without fear.
The rest of us?
We build homes beside graves.
We grow old without growing safe.
We live
if this can be called living.
And still,
somehow,
we rise.
Not because of them
but in spite of them.
Because suffering can stretch
but it cannot snap
the spine of a people
who refuse to forget.
One day,
when the earth remembers,
when names are called,
when truth walks freely again,
these thrones shall be dust
and those who failed us
shall be named for what they were:
Thieves.
Cowards.
Betrayers of the land.
@nirclepoetry
@nirclereader
