Hollow King

Poppycock of poppycocks —
In a field sown thick with poppycocks
Blarney of blarneys
Absurdity of absurdities —
Peddlers of deception
Merchants of ignorance

Gunslinging, gunblazing rooks —
Armies and police
Cross-bred bishops —
Politicians and clergy
Twisted, myopic knights —
Honoured taxonomists, deans and dons
Shielded by pawns —
The medical fraternity —
All spawned by a ruthless queen

Gathered — marching —
Blindly —
To save their king

Deluded pieces —
Protecting the most impotent
The most fearful charlatan —
The centrepiece

Sacrificed martyrs
Giving their existence — their lives —
So that the most cowardly
Of all
Alone
Might own the board

Fearful, hollow — blind core
Dressed up, enshrined
By a gang of warriors
Drunk on rules
Of the game

Scheming to die
To own
To be —
Nothing at all

An invented self
In an invented land