Socialist Sonnet No. 140

Suff(e)rage

 

With votes, like fortune’s lots, having been cast,

What does the following count amount to?

Omniscient autocrats can accrue

More votes than voters, just by playing fast

And loose with democracy, for nation,

Or God, or both. With destiny fated,

Opposition can’t be tolerated;

An image is a fragile creation.

Yet, where there’s left, right and centre et al,

Parties compete with vainglorious boasts

To purloin lucrative government posts,

But won’t impinge on the rule of capital.

Whether blatant or subtle, all depends

Upon market forces and dividends.

 

D. A.