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I am small, mean-minded, rat-cunning.
I have no friends,
Just those that need me
And those that think they do not.
I have a vision,
Of a "1" against my name.
I have empathy,
With those who think like me.
I have courage,
To put the boot in to those who are weaker than me.
I have the moral strength of knowing that I am right.
I am efficient,
My achievements vast,
As I turn land to saline waste,
The air to searing fire,
Islands to featureless ocean,
By doing nothing.
I have a model of the world as it should be.
Privilege feasting behind locked doors,
Myself among them.
Battlers delving in the bins,
Grateful for every scrap,
Cheering as hungry strangers in leaking boats
Sink into a watery grave.
I cringe magnificently to great powers, populous neighbours and cashed-up
magnates.
I berate and bully tiny islands and distant desert realms.
Like all great leaders, my time will pass.
But my legacy will remain.
Division.
Disenchantment.
Discrimination.
A tradition of institutionalised pettiness and mindless persecution.
A world made smaller for all of us.
Copyright © D.W. Walker, 2002