THE GREAT DICTATOR

I’m sorry. I don’t want to be an emperor. The temper of rule, of terror, of lifeless promises. The fuel for the spitting fire, the desire to be-The giver of dire news. Spewing out the mouth of the conqueror, of reign, in order to feel an ounce of honour. The patron of pain. Shooting. At the feet of those who wander. Those who wander are lost. Lost- enlisted in the crossed being of hate. But they are human beings. They pulse blood. It swells in their bodies. They feel, kneel, down to pray. They are live. They strive to live, to survive, and battle through the fight. But they are driven by the hate of those higher. The bait of the men who stand by and watch, and wait.

The aeroplane and radio has brought us closer together. But now. Now. They run us down. The radio delivers the news that drowns us. But the hate of men will pass, and dictators die. The lies will be lifted and the dark skies will have shifted, from the heavy, sodden clouds. We will have the power. The hour to change. We will no longer be the victims of a system, imprisoned by the men who gave you false wisdom, false hope. Wrapping the rope around your neck and sealing your own death.

Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes! Remember the roots you grew from, the truth you knew of. Don’t give yourselves to men who despise you, who blind you, enslave you, dig out your grave, engrave your name. Who regiment your lives, tell you what to do– what to think or what to feel! Who altered what you knew, what you thought was true. Unruly, draining you, reeling you out to dry. Who drill you! Fill you with thoughts. Diet you! Riot you with violence! The breaking of the alliance. Treat you like cattle. Cheat you of a life, of a mind. Beat you through and through until you can’t recognise Who, You, Are.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men! Machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! With clockwork bodies and metal blood. You are not machines! You are not a gun. A cannon. A knife. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. Blood courses through your veins, break these chains that hold you. Enrol you. You the world can bring us back to earth. For what it was worth. We don’t have to be afraid of the birth of the children of this world. We don’t have to be afraid to be free. To believe. To see. Again. Don’t let greed bleed out of your skin, pin you down. Don’t let yourself be poisoned. You are not chosen for this. Find the reason to bring yourself home. Leave the bloodshed. The cruel convictions in their heads. Leave machinery. Remember liberty. Together we can be the inventors of a new world. Let us find the reason to.

Megan Reece