Dictator's Blues

(a villanelle poem)

Photo credit: yang-jing-KVuJ9Y8i8fA-unsplash

It’s ever so hard to be a dictator
stressfully vigilant, watching your back
constantly having to prove you’re the greater

sifting through masses of personal data,
listening to peasants whinge on about lack -
it’s ever so hard to be a dictator

throwing opponents to bored alligators
firing bad staff who have given you flack
constantly having to prove you’re the greater.

I am the nation’s supreme educator
ensuring this country’s ahead of the pack -
it’s ever so hard to be a dictator

paying for fuel to run excavators
to bury the traitors living in shacks
constantly having to prove I’m the greater.

And what do I get? Called Terminator
after all I’ve done for you - cut me some slack!
It’s ever so hard to be a dictator
constantly having to prove I’m the greater.

(© Joshua F.D. Bond)