A tyrant is counting on you

A tyrant is counting

on you –

on your fear,

on your inaction,

on your eagerness

to adjust to affliction

rather than

resist it.

Wherever the masses

rise in division,

a tyrant feasts

and grows his surfeit

on one and tens that become

thousands and millions

in a nation of slaughter.

A tyrant’s strength

depends on the people’s

weakness –

gaps and omissions,

blindspots and pitfalls,

limitations of willpower

and strategy.

No tyrant is invincible;

time strips all humans

and leaves them bare.

But better is the story

when victims

put the head of a tyrant

on a tall pole

at the city’s gate.

Yes, better is the story

when the masses give

a tyrant more blood

than he can drink.

There is blood glut

for every tyrant.

When the masses rise

and stay the course,

there is  blood glut

for any tyrant.

Tyranny only survives

on your inaction

or inadequate action;

a tyrant is counting

on your fear, or

on your failure to stay

in the fight.

© Obari Gomba