Political Ballet: A Dystopian Choreography

The masks we don, the roles we play
Do politicians care, we say?
Their practiced smiles, empty words
Feed greed, not people, birds or herds

We cast our ballots, make our choice
Expecting them to heed our voice
Yet promises made are soon betrayed
The needs of all are not weighed

They do not lack intelligence, it's true
But for themselves, not us, they brew
Schemes to gain wealth, power, fame
Not equality their rules do aim

The heart of leadership is to care
For people's needs, burdens bear
Yet self-gain, not service, drives their class
The rest of us, they let amass

In their eyes we are not fully seen
Except as rungs their ladders to lean
Our pain and struggles brushed aside
Progress for all is not their guide

We are numbers, data, faceless mass
Not people with needs alas  
Our voices drowned in money's din
They serve their backers, not citizens

Their agendas we do not know
Behind closed doors deals ebb and flow
To benefit the few who pay  
Not the disregarded masses' sway

Their carefully crafted masks convey
A caring heart beats within, they say
Yet their predilection to appease
Big donors reveals what expertise

Their smooth words speak equality
But their actions feed disparity
Their presumed intellect applied
To widen chasms, not bridges wide

They play the game of politics well
Make promises they do not fulfill
With shrewd cunning they rule the round
While people's troubles do compound

Their hypocrisy we clearly see
When what they do does not agree
With what they claim in lofty speech
The social contract is beyond reach  

We hoped they'd be the voice of all
Uplift the poor, make the walls fall
That bar equity, choke opportunity
Turn rhetoric into reality

Yet progress crawls in bid for votes
Placating those with deepest pockets
The struggling mass merit no devotion
They worship polls, not human promotion
 
Theyplanned a race to power and riches
Not stewardship, avoiding hitches
That snag the path to elite splendor
On people's backs their aims engender

Their cunning shows in deft perception
Of how to gain control, reception
With empty words that disappear
After elections, no longer clear

Their rise requires a face, a mien
To charm the crowds with hope's sheer sheen
Concealing aims for self-advance  
Not lifting others from their stance

Orchestrated to photography well
Poses struck aspirations tell
Of representing all, bringing change
Yet it's only vested aims within range

Their electioneering a production
Every gesture for voter seduction
Scripts revised to meet the trends
Truth and ideals make rare friends

No, they're not fools, we clearly see
It is calculated criminality
Moral bankruptcy parading
As government for people aiding

Their smarts no virtue symbolize
When used for individual rise
Above the masses' need and plight
Aspiring only to greater height
 
They pledge progress, prosperity
But only if it raises story
Of their ascent to power's crest
Not to improve lives, lighten burdens

They mask indifference with dramatic flair
Projecting that people's problems they share
Yet woven in duplicitous choreography
Is self-interest and hypocrisy

Their cold calculus appraises
Every move for how it raises
Their personna of benevolence
Concealing ulterior turbulence

So let their actions, not their diction
Reveal their brand of conviction
Political language crafted to fool
Not enlighten, clarify or rule

With savvy grooming they elicit trust
That their words lead to what's just
Yet promises prove hollow shams
Their empathy wears thin lamé

Do not be blinded by the glare
Of media gloss, polish and flair
For in the end tis but a tool
To hoist them up while we free-fall

Their fasciahide what lurks inside
A hollow core they cannot hide
From discerning eyes that see the lies
Behind the said and unsaid, analyze

Yes they are smart, clever and keen
But not for serving, for self-preen
Their minds calculate with great skill
How best their own coffers to fill

There is no dimness to their days
Just calibrated, strategic ways
To sound the notes voters admire
While cuing donors funds to acquire

What looks like progress, equity
Is but a sham, duplicity
Cloaked in political theater
Not meant to make people greater

So trust not what polls nor lobbyists claim
Ignore contrived photos, hype and fame
Follow rather cold hard proofs
That unveil struggle's true class of ruths  

The web of greed they artfully weave
Is not for common good, believe
Their craft spins tyranny not freedom
Heed not their pomp, it's poisoned fiefdom

They administer not,  but rule
With silver tongues and guile so cruel
Serving ends that profit gears
Not dry people's real tears

Awake, arise, do not be deceived
By choreographed airs that they've weaved
Demand substance, truth, real change
Not hollow hype that's rearranged

We must engage, speak out, act up
Disrupt the plots greed cooks up
For if we slumber in false hope
Our lives and dreams down slippery slopes

With vigilance the masks we'll rip
Expose the lies, the hypocrite
Time we played a bolder role
And took back reins they did usurp

No more pretend, lubricate  
The time has come to self-determine fate
Shed complacency's shroud so dense
And write our story's future tense
 
Let clouds of justice roll down
And waters of righteousness drown
Deceit that served but selfish means
For now we chart where path careens

With clear-eyed truth we'll right the wrongs
And with bold hope ignite our songs
Take up the staff, leave pharaoh's grip
Cross the sea, new worlds equip

This is our moment, our crossover  
To tip the scales, even the score
Duty calls like drumbeats at our core
To even out what they tilted before

Awake, arise, reclaim your place
Let deeds, not words, set the pace
Before misrule by peasantry
Now we lead, we hold history

Let duplicity's curtains drop
Icons topple, idols stop
Blind trust in mere mortals above
Time we rise, take on our gloves

No more \haloedM heads commanding
Now side by side Progress expanding
By lifted hearts, linked hands, bared souls
Not by saviors mounted on high thrones

As one we march, a sea of care
Flooding streets with justice, welfare
Sweeping away old creeds and lies
With human potential rising high

The time has come, the time is now
To recalibrate, our worth endow
Upon ourselves, our peers around
Not wait for legislate-redeemers crowned

We are the ones we hoped would lead
We are the change our hearts bleed
We are the cries of suffering masses
Waiting no more, we now walk past this

This is our charge, task, destiny
To animate the change we see
Activate the good, dissipate the cruel
Till justice and care become the rule

Raise every voice, let hopes arise
Lift each other, see with clear eyes
Take back the reins, chart the course
Let soul's tinder ignite new force

The moment is here, the future is ours
To plant seeds of change, let them flower
But first must come awakening vibration
From slumber to self- moved transformation

Rise from dormancy, walk in your worth
This is the epoch, this your new birth
Shed limiting shells, let spirit soar
Take your place, be shackled no more

The naive trust in saviors disbands
The credence on leaders' empty hands
Now relying on our own light within
We step out of shadows thick, thin

No more waiting for others to cues
We write the score, we chart the moves
We are the guides, torchbearers, stewards
Of our shared destiny, our canto's verbs
 
In this hour we hold the pen
On blank page now our chapter begins
We are the authors of our fate
The pioneers, the liberated

With purpose, zeal, camaraderie  
We march into dawn's fresh clarity
As drumbeats of change gain momentum
Our anthem swells loud, a crescendo

This is the age we remake the rules
Guide humanity to higher schools
Where wisdom dwells and clarity reigns
And new light through once shut window panes

We take the yoke, end dynasties
Steer the course, correct trajectories
Take the spark once carried for us
Now we run free, each a conductive force
 
The old myths and creeds now deflate
As new vision eshapes cleaner slate
Gone are saviors, messiahs on stages
Now "we the people" turn new pages

We tend the garden, sow the seed
For progress flows from grassroots, indeed
Not by anointed hero's lone endeavor
But global hearts linked together

This is the hour, we take the lead
Fire of justice is ours to feed
To build the world our hearts do say
Must to children flow one day

We are the ones we hoped would come
To drumbeat of longings still unsung
Of dreams deferred, of hopes undone
Waiting for mythic chosen one

The chosen time is here, it's we
To start the chain of change to be
Not wait for prophecied nobles on white horses
Who escape only in our discourses

We are the future's genesis plot
The basement where legends are wrought
By collective heat, skins bared in the furnace
Till change takes shape, purpose emerges

In unity we break divide
In empathy, chasms subside
Joined by humanity’s tether  
We unleash our powers together

The hour has come, task is set
No more time on hopes misspent
If we would see our visions unfold
The baton is ours to take hold

We are the ones who dared to care
For strangers, minorities, worlds out there
Who risked ease for justice, sacrificed comfort
So new leaves could sprout from old roots warped

In scrolls of time they'll tell this story
Of dawn breaking ascension's glory
When a slumbering people did wake
Their future's firm foundation to make

By joining hands, linking hearts
Playing a bolder, braver part
Shedding old myths, taking up guide
Writing the change not mystics prophesied

This is the moment we remake the mold
Cast off yesterday's roles, write our scrolls  
On blank page open up a new venue
Now we compose our own crescendo

The time is now, here is our station
To lead the call for transformation
Take up the baton, carry the spark
Illuminate a new epoch's arc

No more waiting for visionaries vaunted
To change the systems, get justice granted
The power lies not in faraway hills
But within our own unstoppered wills

The time has come, task is clear
Break free of inner and outer fear
Old beliefs and barriers now dissolve
As bold new story we evolve

We are the ones to right the wrong
To sing the yet unsung song
Take the yoke, let oppressors fall
Tear down the walls once thought too tall

The power lies not in princes and knights
But within our inner light
To remake the world our hearts do seek
This is the change we're born to wreak

No more fantasy of fabled one
Coming to save, anointed, ordained
The messiah, the prince so awaited
Emerged, yet lies within each fated

The builders we hoped for now appear
As this new morn makes crystal clear
The legends we sought outside before
Dwelt within, now through each door

The bold rewritings of human saga
Emerge now from our hearts, minds, hand’s labors
Not by demigods from celestial sphere
But by each one who sheds all fear

As one we shape the waiting stone
Dream together what's yet unknown
With millions of whispers, deeds and songs
We right the wrongs and redress the wrongs   

When standing aloft on mountain crest
Before unfurling landscapes vast, unguessed
We see that the mythic prophets of old
Were but us, before histories told

So let us embrace this nobler role
And bright tomorrows fully unroll
That perch on hope's peaks we now stand upon
Ready to tune the waiting epic we've begun.













   The poem is part of a full version found in the book “Homo Sapiens” Part Part I - XVIII, written by Mawphniang Napoleon. This book is part of the popular “Homo Sapiens” book series, which can be purchased online at various online bookstores, such as Amazon. The book is available for purchase for those who are interested in reading the complete version of the poem. Remember to get all the books from the “Homo Sapiens” series, as well as other books by the same author.   So, don’t hesitate and get a copy today from one of the many online bookstores.   Khublei Shihajar Nguh,  (Dhanewad  )(Thank you )