Sibling Rivalry, the Hard Way (Jim)

I know why you have disinterred my soul,
why at your behest
I know all you know
of all the times
since I felt death
creeping into me.

When my father died,
as eldest son, I was king.

Leaving the matter of my brothers (mostly half)
and sisters with ambitious husbands.
I liked most well enough,
and some I loved.
But some already coveted my position
and others soon enough.

So yes, my course
was weighed with necessary care.

Should I make them Village Chiefs, Ambassadors
(to keep them occupied and far away)?
Court Advisors
(under my watchful eye)?
Military Commanders
(where my spies would know
their every move before they made it)?
And would any or all of these keep them mollified?
Neutralized?
And more to the point, under my control?

Perhaps a few examples –
putting out some eyes –
to leave some princes begging on the street.
Would that not suffice to teach the folly
of incurring my distrust –
or only make the still sighted
more desperate to depose me??

I could not be sure.

There was
no real choice
except eliminating most
jealous, carping potential rivals,
and where a threat,
mothers, wives and children too.

And for this – this –
you 21st Century
constitution besotted maggots
surrounded by your courts, laws, rights
and civil service soldiers
found me a monster.
and now come to personally point
your finger of guilt.

Pfaghhh!
At most, in your terms,
I am but the innocent evolutionary victim
of competing biological imperatives!

Come stand on my turf and times.
You would have done the same
(unless done to first).

How dare you question me?
You have no standing here.
Nor will I assuage
your soft time’s collective guilt
over being one with such a man as me –
for what truly eats at you, interloper,
is that we both are only human.

Do you really think
I have no feelings?
That I enjoyed
this aspect of my rule?

You have taught more than you intended.
So though I never saw one, I know
a lion capturing a pride
to extend his line
adopts no step-children
and simply kills them all.
But does your PETA
picket this king of beasts?

Leave me to history.
To stand or burn
on who and when and where I was.

I ruled, made civic works,
enlarged our lands and left an heir –
kept the Law and the Way
ever in the hearts of the people,
encouraged the giving of alms
and led armies against invaders.

How you “advanced beings” rule yourselves
is no affair of mine.
And, though I personally filled graves
with those I knew –
anyone can see
you’ve spent a century
filling graveyards
all around your world.

I might have done better or more
but died with few illusions or regrets.
And being kinder and fairer than you think –
I wish you the same.

–Jim Keller
August 17, 2005
Draft © 2005 J. Keller All rights reserved. World Rights Reserved.