When Tyrants Tremble …



when tyrants tremble,

at the fury of those who tremble no more,


their veneer of stability seems rotten to the core.




when the trembling ones shake off their long-hushed fear,


the trembling ones,


tremble now with a rage that injustice everyone can hear.




when tyrants tremble,


as the dispossessed shake their foundations of tyrannical conceit,


tyrants tremble,


when the common ones expose the phantoms of tyranny’s deceit.




when the trembling ones

refuse to be cowed and bowed and beaten down again,



the trembling ones,


scream their vehemence as they have little to lose and freedom and dignity to gain.




when tyrants tremble,


their trembling resounds and echoes around the world,


tyrants tremble,

in far-flung tyrannies,

as the peoples’ flag is unfurled.




and finally when the trembling ones,


take back the citadels, the streets, the squares, and the parks,


the trembling ones,


send a message to power that revolutions may be triggered by the merest of livid sparks.




and that tyranny may reign for a decade or a generation or even two,


but tyranny must eventually succumb to the rage of the common ones,


that seemingly appears suddenly out of the bright clear blue.




this isn’t a warning or a threat or a declaration of ill intent,


this is a sober lesson in history for the peoples’ history with oppressive stasis can never be content.




when tyrants tremble,


they should know that there will someday come a trembling surprise,



for the garbage heap of history patiently awaits each tyrant’s wretched demise …