The Prince and the City

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.