The Emperor, The Clothes, And The Child Poem by Raj Arumugam

The Emperor, The Clothes, And The Child



1

The child that said what he saw
at the end of the street:
“But mommy,
the Emperor ’s bare as
Little Tommy the day he was born! ” -
that child,
I’ve always wondered,
always what happened
to that child

Just recently
in my journeys
I saw
The Annals of the State (check Wikileaks)
show what happened to the boy and all




2

Straight on from the streets
the boy was sent
to the Truth Ideology School
where he spent years polishing
the Fat Butts of the Royal Horses -
but still saying what he saw
(for it seems this is a Disease of the Brain,
a condition known plain as:
Speaking the Truth):
and so he was delivered then the State Cure:
and now, it seems, he lives in Cell131313
(serves him right for catching the disease;
sure, the sins of the fathers are visited on the kids)
teeth rotten and knees falling
the little boy who spoke the Truth -
now unknown, hidden and obscure

And his Ma was sent to
Patriot Mother’s Re-Education Program Institute
where even centuries after
she’s yet to complete her first year;
And his Dad to Desert-You-Never-Come-Back-From
and little Tommy was sent to
Grab-Them-Young School

And every school child
in The Emperor’s Domains is taught
The Upright Moral of the Story:
Don’t tell Lies –
For the Truth is the Lie

3

Remember then, for your own good,
O ye children
of all nations and clime:
It was the weavers
the smooth-talkers
the unjust, the wrong-doers
the charlatans -
It’s them that got away

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
Based on 'The Emperor's New Clothes' (Danish: Kejserens nye Klæder) by Hans Christian Andersen.
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