We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings
— Ursula Le Guin
When the rulers of this country look in the mirror
do they see the ghosts of Roman caesars,
the visage of a vanquished fuehrer,
the mummified smiles of pharonic boy wonders,
the sun going down on the scions of British empire,
the divine right of kings in its spider-webbed sepulcher?
How often was it “nobodies” everywhere,
the faceless, the nameless in desperation and hunger,
inspired by visionary seers and leaders,
who rose like volcanoes as if out of nowhere,
made earthshaking changes, upended old orders
and from the “impossible” wrenched hopeful new futures?
Despite tribute and riches, power and plunder
all empires have finally gone under─
the stake, the spikes, the rack, reigns of terror
have never held failing empires together.
And one day like dinosaurs that made the earth quiver
the era of empires will vanish forever.