A LITTLE STORY AN ANCIENT CHINESE EMPEROR - David Budbill

[Larry Robinson]

A LITTLE STORY ABOUT AN ANCIENT CHINESE EMPEROR

Thousands of years ago in ancient China a boy emperor ruled for awhile.
The Imperial Court had placed the child on the throne so that he could be
a mouthpiece for the Imperial Court's desires.

Coddled from birth, surrounded by servants and sycophants,
told by The Imperial Court that he was The Son of Heaven,
given to believe he had no obligation to anyone but his Imperial Court,
pampered and protected from any notion of what the real world was like,
from any idea of what The People had to put up with every day,

The Emperor stomped and swaggered through the world
telling The People what to do, taking whatever he wanted,
robbing from the poor and giving to the rich, and sending
his armies out to terrorize whomever he took a notion to despise.

The Emperor ruled for a long time and thousands of The People
died, killed by his armies and because of his abuse and neglect.
But, eventually, after great suffering, The People rose up and
crushed the man who called himself The Son of Heaven.
And they crushed his Imperial Court as well.

Then some time passed in which The People lived in relative calm
until another Emperor, like the one in this story, came along.

	- David Budbill

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/poetrylovers/attachments/20180715/9b850ba3/attachment.html>