Redemption it is
claims our emperor
all shiny new he is
with the proverbial
begging bowl at hand

Redemption it is
Recovery Restoration
Refurbishment Revitalization
even Renovation like we are
a typically neglected classroom

Salvation Deliverance even
from our past (sins and evils)
though were we not all
there when it happened
or were we just hangers-on

Redemption Song
our emperor sings
for his supper
for our supper
(he does the Bob Marley)

Our emperor sings
but is the battle not
won in the mind
should he not emancipate
us from mental slavery

that mental slavery
of the begging bowl
of the African begging bowl

perchance I forget
that emancipation
can’t fill our stomachs
if that is all we are about

(a hungry person
is an angry person
never mind a hungry
child labouring to absorb)

The battle is won
in the mind
that dangerous place
that weapon of war

(The country’s emperor keeps his face on straight, as he does a bit of the Bob Marley and the Wailers, out there in Davos amongst the ‘Old pirates yes they rob I / sold I to the merchant ship / minutes after they took I from the bottomless pit’ (from “Redemption Song”).)