The Glorious Leader - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Dictators | Stalin

The master puppeteer
gathers all his marionettes
for a grand performance.

He strides on stage
stern and in full control—
the undisputed only king
of their puppet world.

Tonight, the puppets
will perform a drama
of love and painful loss
of loyalty and betrayal.

But all is not well in the land
of make believe tonight.
Despondent and unhappy,
the puppets huddle in dark corners
muttering words of courage
and dreams of revolution.

Yet they know they are not fighters.
Losing their resolve, they bow their
puppet heads and return once more
to the drudgery of the puppet world.

All but one.

Calmly, he stalks in silence
until one night he begins to spin
yarns of daring courage
and brave tales of insurrection.

Stirred, they rise all as one.
‘All puppets are born equal’, they cry
and plunge their little knives
into the master puppeteer's back.

The marionettes are now in a panic—
it is time for tonight's performance
and there is no one to take command.

'What will become of us?’
they yell and shriek in terror.

Into the light with a hundred shiny
medals pinned on his valiant chest,
steps out from the darkest corner
their new heroic and glorious leader.