The Prince gazed out the window
He could not, would not, be moved
By the reluctance so poorly hidden
In the words of the Council.
I need not listen to a Council of Fools!
Was it not clear as the summer sky?
A child would have heard my words
And comprehended better than they.
Snub out the light, and the moths will no longer come!
Take away the honey, and the flies will disappear!
Then the glory of the City will be revealed threefold
And those afar will yearn with envy
For our streets cleared of the jetsam
Our roads free from flotsam
Our temples cleansed of fallen souls.
His swift decree by sundown
Left no doubt between the lines
This City will no longer cover
Those who must not be sheltered
And he who lights a candle
Shall too be sent into the darkness.
And so it was, the glory of the city
So sought by the Prince
Never shone, never glittered
As each lamp and candle and fire
Was put away and blown out.
In the bitter cold the Prince learnt
That the glow of the city
Had come not from the ivory towers he built
But the love in the hearts of its people.
Posts
