The great "financier"

Sometimes it is not good enough to do your best.

He was not just a great man,

He was also very intelligent,

He knew what had to be done,

And God knows how close he got.

From a young age he standed out,

Quickly he became important,

The king himself sent out for him,

He gave him power over the nation,

Power over money, thus over all.

Things started to change for the best,

He was a good, nay, the best administrator,

The crisis started to fade thanks to him,

The country rose as bad men fell.

But those bad men also had power,

And he made too much enemies at once,

They all got together to face him,

And he was finally displaced.

Right before him everything faded,

Everything he worked and standed for,

All the good things that he started,

Suddenly gone for selfish interests.

A good man was not enough to save it,

The nation's leaders walked to their doom,

A violent war was the result,

Change that could've come through other doors.

If we only listened to good men...

Author's Note

This poem was inspired by the work of Jacques Necker, a great government official that was unable to achieve his goals because he made too many enemies at once and the circumstances worked against him (what a pity for France). His final deposition was actually one of the final triggers of the French Revolution.

I believe that this is the real reason why we don't progress as we could. Good men are set aside to please the powerful ones, and that only drives us down as a society. Sometimes, it isn't even enough to be well prepared, intelligent and capable. Sometimes, circumstances and bad people work against the good men that make us walk forward as Humanity.

Reviews

[Papaya]

I like the inspiration behind this and the story. Navigating relationships is tricky and I still keep my enemies closer than my friends. Even those relationships require nurturing. Enjoyed!