I went to attend a meeting in a park,
A meeting of a leader, the ruling power,
Addressing the people, both in dark,
Promising to make a bright future.
The leader delivered his emotional address,
Looking angry and in a tone of rage,
Grievances of the people he must redress,
A leader secured and confined in a cage.
Promising to finish the energy short falls,
Promising to remove religious insanity,
Promising to punish the lawless jackals,
Promising to re-build federal integrity.
And a lot of many other promises,
Regretting he couldn't do anything,
Because he inherited a state in distress,
An empty treasury having nothing.
The innocent people were excited,
Their leader, not merely a leader, a saint and sage,
Long live, long live, slogans they shouted,
The leader or the public, who is in a cage?
A very familiar political scene. I loved the lines: Addressing the people, both in dark, Promising to make a bright future. So true, the general public thinks the politician is a messiah, shouts slogans while the politician makes endless promises of bright future.
to July 2017's showcase, which now accommodates poems of any size, by referring readers to a link to the poem's page. showcase is found in my poem list on PH, under July 2017's thanks, Akhtar. bri :)
Grievances of the people he must redress, .........i'd heard the word redress before, but i looked up the definition to refresh my memory. redress, used with grievances, i don't believe means quite what you mean to say. [well, maybe it does! ] i would still be inclined to use the word address instead of redress, but you already used redress two lines earlier! here is one person's answer (online) to the question: What does the redress of grievances part of the 1st amendment [to the u.s. constitution] mean? to Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances” means the People, with evidence that the government is abusing its constitutionally limited power, have the Right to submit a Petition for a Redress (remedy) of the constitutional wrongdoing, that government has an obligation to honestly respond to the People’s Petition and, should the government ignore the People, the People have the Right to enforce the Right of Petition by retaining their money until their grievances are Redressed. Basically it means that if the federal government is exceeding the authority granted to it under the constitution (which it does regularly by the way) the people have a right to formally complain and the government must respond. ============================ And a lot of many other promises, Regretting he couldn't do anything, Because he inherited a state in distress, An empty treasury having nothing......................a sad predicament indeed! ! ! ========================= The innocent people were excited, Their leader, not merely a leader, a saint and sage, Long live, long live, slogans they shouted, The leader or the public, who is in a cage? ................................a great stanza with a terrific last line! nice sage/cage rhyme also. thanks for sharing. bri ;)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
This what we have been facing in Pakistan It is a true picture of our political parties.A poem is a mirror in which the facts of society should be reflected. That is what Akhtar Jawad is doing.