Collapsing Empire



with increasing warmth water rises
up to the numbed people’s mouths
and the inflated money plops
like blown bubbles of soap
out of the stock hero’s reach

the praised god of great profit
worshipped for his fake promises
of fortune that can be bought
demands ever more sacrifices
it’s a gambling with blood

from the exalted balcony of power
cold eyes blindly stare on gold
viciously gained in cruel egoism
whereas those who are impecunious
will only spin sham threads

richly blessed the new emperor
whether it freezes or thaws
he will always stay floating
but those who put their trust in him
will proof nuder than ever before
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Submitted by ludy_b on May 02, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
15

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAXX XAXXX BXXAX BXXXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 612
Words 109
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5

Ludy Bührs

The topics she writes about are very diverse, so are the poetry styles she applies. As a Dutch translator and poet, having lived in Cambodia's capital city Phnom Penh for 2.5 years, in 2008 she published "Op de ruïnes van een rijk" (On the Ruins of an Empire) ISBN 978-90-8834-483-1 with 60 poems based on her experiences there. In 2007 she received a Certificate of Accomplishment as one of The Best Poems and Poets of 2007 issued by poetry.com and the International Library of Poetry for her poem Choked Truth, her own translation of "Verstikte waarheid", one of the poems in the book. Born in 1956, she still works as an independent translator, translating from English into Dutch. more…

All Ludy Bührs poems | Ludy Bührs Books

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    "Collapsing Empire" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/98926/collapsing-empire>.

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