Watergate

Mubarak is a case in point. You leave
a man on top too long, he loses track
of what he is, beginning to believe
he's Pericles. Thus white shades into black.

Magruder, Coulson, Mitchell, Liddy, Dean -- 
they all lined up to help him tell the lies.
The end can never justify the means.
Who put the blinkers on such piercing eyes?

Up to this point, the office stood for Good,
all that could be hopeful in mankind.
But Nixon grinned, as only Nixon could -- 
a thousand placemen wilfully went blind.

The strangest thing about these law-destroyers,
these wreckers of the State? They were all lawyers.

 

Author's Note

Mubarak -- the Egyptian dictator, toppled in 2011
Pericles -- the model ruler of ancient Athens
Magruder, Coulson, Mitchell, Liddy, Dean -- members of Nixon's White House team