Tuesday, 3 March 2026

#2255 -- ambivalence

 


2255

7.62

4.iii.26

ambivalence

Tweedledee and Tweddledumber

 

one tyrant is dead

hip hip

 

the other tyrants still survive

 

one tyrant killed the other

 

aren’t they just as bad?

 

how will we measure?

 

an us of them

a them of us

 

ding dong

 

other tyrants watch on

 

will you mourn yours?

 

and the bomb that did it miss?

falls on the school

all the schoolgirls die

 

that was the terror headquarters

must have been

we say so

 

you can trust them

 

tomorrow it’s a hospital

 

everyone’s my enemy

every tyrant knows

 

manners of a monster

 

he was a nice old man

ordered the executions

 

avuncular up close

 

look at the list of what they defend –

freedom and a way of life

us from them

 

and they do too

 

don’t we need a strongman?

 

a tyrant has so many bombs

and guns and drones and songs

and bodies at disposal

 

one tyrant is dead

hip hip

ding dong

 

the other’s just as bad

as old as tired as narrow

 

all the world’s watching

don’t you know?

 

heigh ho!

 

one tyrant’s a terrorist

the other’s just dropping bomb

 

let’s see where they land

oh that was a hit

and that was a miss

 

the orphanage, the cabinet room

the mosque, the church, the temple

 

why can’t we get all the tyrants together?

have them slog it out in a padded cell

make it a spectator sport?

 

we could thumbs down them all

get the emperor feeling

 

what would that make us then?

 

no, but we’d make sure they don’t hurt each other

 

take them back to their rooms in the home

 

give them the pill

 

how it’s all a bad dream

how the world’s a bad dream

 

ding dong

hip hip

how tyranny reigns

 

why can’t we sleep it all off?

 

 







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