Campaigning is poetry:
Anyone can come up with a verse,
A sound bite and an applaud line.
Governing is but prose:
Not everyone can grasp the grammar,
Confine to the constraints of the rules,
Or submit to scrutiny and accountability.
Makers of leaders, choose conscientiously—
See through the façade, listen rhetorically.
Not everyone with a backbone has a spine,
Not every piece of music has a melody.
Promise man a position, the angel in them manifests;
Give them the position, the being of them surfaces.
Integrity in our politics is in scarcity,
Words are not bonds but springboards.
As in the words of the political animal:
“During campaign, one can say anything;
Once in office, you do a different thing.”
So, when they promise peace and probity,
They deliver tyranny and corruption.
When they promise to build a bridge,
They foment hate and division.
Spoken words, indeed, are not for the ears
of the unhearing; but for the minds
of the thoughtful.
