Wisdom from the Ancestors
If the ancient Druids spoke through me
They would say to you,
Now we are in crisis.
In drought and flood our crops will fail.
Our people are in conflict.
Many go hungry.
Our wild brothers and sisters
Even the sacred bee
Are in peril,
May leave us forever.
Faced with such disaster
We need a really potent sacrifice.
Not goats this time.
Not criminals or prisoners of war
No commoner we were finding a bit inconvenient
No!
In the face of dire circumstance
Only the brightest and best will do.
We need a sacrifice who combines
Wealth, power and influence. A leader!
A statesman, more valuable than any other.
Only the greatest and most noble of sacrifices
Can save us.
When they destroy the land and the people
For their power and pride
It is their own vanity that will lead them
All the way to the ritual space.
It’s not that we’re superstitious.
It’s that we know sometimes
The best way to protect democracy
Is to persuade the bastards at the top
To self congratulate themselves all the way
To a wicker man.
(I’m not advocating putting actual people in actual wickermen, but at times like this I can’t help but feel that there are other ways of looking at the idea of sacrifice kings…)
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