Emporer Ape

Emporer Ape

I'm reading a history
of the Ottoman empire.
The usual rise and fall;
when will they ever learn?
The descriptions
of the life
of a Sultan
seem very similar
to the life of
the last emperor of China;
a movie I just saw.

The powerful man
at the top
is essentially
imprisoned
amid courtiers
who actually control things.

Sounds vaguely familiar,
the usual monkey pile
wherever two or more
of we hairless
insane apes congregate.
The need
for a "god"
to hide behind
and blame.

The stronger ones
climb for the high branches
where they imagine
they see more.
But mainly
they are just trying
to assuage their fears
and nakedness--
and basically use
those of us
on the lower branches
as toilet paper.

When their branch breaks,
they have further to fall.
Unfortunately,
they fall through
the lower branches,
taking some of us
with them.
It's all pretty
desperate.
But, then again,
I'm alright, Jack.

It has always seemed
to me
that with our large brains
and our "superior" intelligence ,
we should be able
to realize
the escapist fantasies
of peace, love and understanding,
of "brotherhood" for mankind,
of universality,
of "we're all in this together"--
instead of using
our profound desires
to organize armies
to beat it out
of other
similarly organized
people.

But that would probably
just take the fun out.
No real point
in taking it
seriously.

Doug Palmer 2007