The Puppet Show Poem by Nida Nawaz

A colossal tent has been stretched
Above the entire settlement
Its canopy adorned with counterfeit lanterns of deceit
And within, among the creases of darkness,
An invisible finger keeps tugging at the strings—
The tyrant is smiling...

Onto the stage descend many faces
Of the people, of clerics, of saints, of politicians,
Of writers, intellectuals, and poets

Yet no light belongs to their eyes
Their consciences have been purchased
Rendered dormant and obedient
And thus, a vast puppet show begins

Each puppet is stuffed with the smoke of the tyrant's will
Every smile blossoms at the command of authority
A crowd gathers, collars of leather fastened around their necks
Engraved in golden letters with titles such as
Renowned Politician, Distinguished Intellectual,
Celebrated Artist, Eminent Author
Before some are tossed morsels of awards
Others are draped in silken chains of fellowships
Wagging their tails, they begin to lick
The bloodstains of history

Professional brokers of various faiths
Release clouds of incense from the corners of the stage
So that the stench of gunpowder
And corpses may be concealed

Politicians applaud
And the music of falsehood grows louder still
The so-called intellectuals have already mortgaged their pens
Which now produce nothing but hymns of praise

Painters, upon their canvases
Transform the butcher's hands into angels' wings
And the crowd in this puppet show is strange indeed
It chants in admiration of its own cages
Mistakes its shackles
For garlands of celebration

Whenever the face of truth
Peers out from behind the curtain
A thousand masks unite to bury it beneath stones.
Yet time is an old spectator of this puppet show
It knows that one day the strings will rot
The masks will dissolve
And the puppets standing proudly upon the stage
Will suddenly collapse
All honours, all certificates of acclaim,
All fellowships every pretence,
Every lie every carefully woven snare—
Will stand exposed

Then it shall become clear
That what they kept calling the sun
Was merely a flickering counterfeit lamp
Hidden in a tyrant's pocket
And the role they performed
Mistaking it for reality was nothing more
Than a long cruel puppet show.