RepublicA Poem by Paulo DelgadoRepublic: Humble beginnings Immigrants from a far off land Seek a place to make their own To find a place where they belong You settle You live You strive for something better You are not free You are ruled by what you see as something evil As something tyrannical It is not natural You must become free You will shed your blood for liberty if need be And you do You become free Every man is equal You are now free You will become a new democracy A new age begins An age of progress An age of understanding An age of ideas, innovation and equality You are going to change the world You are going to make it a better place Your stocks have never been higher Nothing is beyond your reach You can have anything that you want You can do nothing wrong Then it happens You just wanted to defend your homeland You didn’t mean to invade a foreign land But you did Blood stained standard The tears of a thousand mothers The era of peace is not over you say You only did what you did to defend the honor of your homeland You didn’t seek glory and riches And yet you now have them in spades You have become corrupted You tell yourself nothing has changed You are still a humble people Yet you are no longer small You are no longer innocent Your innocence has been washed away in the blood of innocents The lives you destroyed The endless waste What was it for? You felt threatened You had to act first They would have destroyed you, you tell yourself And yet a part of you doubts your intentions A part of you wonders if the price was worth it. Or was it about the glory and the riches that you secretly coveted No. You are still free You are a democracy A land in which everyone is equal Or is that also a lie that you are telling yourself because the truth is just to hard to bear. No. You are living in a grand new age An age of progress An age of understanding An age of ideas, innovation and equality You are going to change the world You are going to make it a better place Your stocks have never been higher Nothing is beyond your reach You can have anything that you want You can do nothing wrong Why are you beginning to tell others what they can and cannot do? You know what is best for all. Then it happens again You feel threatened You need to act first They have to be destroyed or they will destroy you You must defend the bastion of liberty You must defend your homeland You didn’t mean to invade a foreign land But you did Blood stained standard The tears of a thousand mothers The empty cities filled with smoke and a fearful silence The era of peace is not over you say You only did what you did to defend the honor of your homeland You didn’t seek glory and riches And yet you now have them in spades You have become corrupted You tell yourself and the world that nothing has changed You are still a humble people The world doesn’t believe you They won’t tell you You are feared. You are the Republic Beacon of freedom and equality. You can do no wrong Everything you do is to ensure a bright future for mankind It happens again You invade this time to ensure the liberty of others against a great oppressor. Why did you stay once the war is gone? Why are you building forts and digging trenches? Why are protestors disappearing? You are not liberators You are conquerors And yet, you tell yourself that you have done everything for the best You have ensured prosperity at home You are the Republic Beacon of freedom and equality Why are elections rigged? Your system is shriveling up from the inside On the outside it looks nice and luscious On the inside it is rotten to the core Why is everything done for the benefit of a few? Yet it is still done in the name of the many You are doing better than you have ever been doing Yet you begin to falter You always have something to do when you have enemies to conquer, villains to chase Yet piece by piece you are defeating them all You feel threatened You need to act first They have to be destroyed or they will destroy you You must defend the bastion of liberty You must defend your homeland You didn’t mean to invade a foreign land But you did Blood stained standard The tears of a thousand mothers The empty cities filled with smoke and a fearful silence The era of peace is not over you say You only did what you did to defend the honor of your homeland You didn’t seek glory and riches And yet you now have them in spades You have become corrupted What happens when you have no enemies except for yourselves? The state is no longer run by the many It is run by the few They begin to compete with each other for glory and power, to make a name for themselves You don’t care You are entertained You are well fed Yet you still have power over events, but for how long is anyones guess Civil war Brother against brother No longer threatened by any outsiders you turn upon each other Blood stained standard The empty cities filled with smoke and a fearful silence The era of peace is over A man emerges victorious You plie him with honors and compete to give him power You are no longer in charge, but you don’t know or care You are entertained You are well fed You are now the Empire © 2014 Paulo Delgado |
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