LAST VERSES

2000–THE PRESENT

 

3 – DICTATORS

Poem: Alasdair Gray © 2005
 

Wanting attention, needing to please or hurt,

each works to make his life a splendid play

like actor managers in Victoria’s day,

with furtive plots, bloodshed, fanfares, flags,

huge crowds of extras and only one main part.

Nations maddened by injustices

are the raw materials of their art.

 
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