Malevolence
By what malevolent mechanism
Does someone become so self-promoting
As to seduce voters into voting
In favour of division and schism?
For all such Herodians, innocence
Of those being killed and buried in their homes
Is easily dismissed. Victory forms
Its own rationale, though it makes nonsense
Of any claims to civilisation,
Which surely should be a society
Of the commonweal, where people are free
From obligation to any nation
And its capital. Power’s the sly drug
That so intoxicates the demagogue.
D. A.