Hang The Poet!

He was put in the dock,

Standing accused of:

Wasting a massive amounts of paper and ink,

With intent to steal people minds

Leaving them with nothing of their own to think.

Likewise, he was accused of inciting a riot

Against the system in which he believed is based on rot.

Furthermore, he was put in the dock

For waging a war

Against the people in power.

What did he come up with in self-defence

Against all these offences?

He told them they presided over a society

That has a litigious proclivity

With a propensity to generate

All to waste but massive amounts of paper and ink,

Instead of bread and milk.

In defiance of all this nonsense,

He riposted, burn the paper,

Spill the ink into the gutter,

Chop off his fingers,

Lock up his mind behind the bars,

Muzzle all the critics and detractors,

Still, they won't be able to disguise

The material evidence of malfeasance,

That was the original offence,

Whether a poet or no poet

Is out there to garrotte.

Copyright Haileselassie Girmay

10/5/99