Summer haunts us with dense heat,
Slowing the velocity of history, releasing us
From the daily accusations of corrupted souls.  
Shall we all burn in a seethe of lava
In this season of hatred we have of each other?

The summer brings punishing rays of the sun.
I am alone, in the shade of leaves
Sweating a mist of tears, escaping violation
By propaganda of these sinister times.
Here a spider dances, a master at his craft,
Wrapping his pray in a coffin of silk
Trapped and buried alive
As I am trapped in a web of lies,
Soon to be devoured by the primal loathing
Of our different points of view.

Drought and fire scorch the land.
Who can understand the savagery of revenge
Like sandstorms from distant deserts?
How unreal to imagine once we worshipped
Pagan gods, or once we worshipped democracy.
Now we either bow to the emperor’s decrees
Or risk our wholeness to survive.

I’m shutting my ears to the shouts.
I seek only a serenity of stillness,
Admiring the spider oblivious of the heat.
Soon the storms of autumn raise their alarms
And tear the webs with howling force!
The putrid saps will swell on the ground,
And all will hail with vented voice
To swear their allegiances
To the emperor who must stand,
Or the tyrant who must fall!