The Four Pillars That Once Stood in the Way

When I turned on the TV the other day, I saw something,
Something strange,
The four pillars of our democracy,
But they were different in every way.

Something just wasn't the same,
These strong pillars, high up they went, now cracked and trembled everyday
As if they lost their foundations somewhere along the way.
They couldn't stay up straight,
One could say they might crash any day,
Killing all the people standing in their way,
Strings controlling puppets came down from up high,
In front of my own eyes.

Every word they said and movement they made
Was controlled by people high up in the State,
The four pillars were supposed to hold truth
But now it they hold an elaborate puppet show where we are the prey.

Armed with mikes and lies they roam,
Foiling millions as they go screaming and harming us in ways unknown,
My ears hurt hearing all their lies.
Dropping a concrete slab on our heads every day,
Without a thought if we'll ever see the next day.

The people who realise it come out and say
'Why are you destroying our way,
Our views and thoughts getting shut out everyday'.
These tall pillars turn around and say,
'They're anti nationals. throw them out of the way
They are the reason we tremble everyday'.

'What was their crime', you might ask.
Just saying out loud that
Our pillars cracked and lost their way?

There's still hope I say,
One pillar still stands high, though perhaps not for long.
Protect this pillar,
This one cannot go their way,
Cause if it does, we'll all be crushed and it'll end our way.
And if it does fall one day
we'll see a day when the stage is empty and there are no more plays.

Broken pillars lie, no longer standing up high,
The strings are scattered all over the place,
And the puppets lie smashed all over the stage,
While the people are left crying underneath the weight,
The pillars now lie on their legs,
Blood and broken bones are all that's left.

Unless we want to see that day,
We should protect that one pillar that stands in their way,
And one day the other three too will stand tall and proud,
If we stand up and act now before the last one falls,
Crushing us all.

Sheldon D'Souza is a 17-year-old college student and and aspiring film director and screenwriter.

Featured image credit: Luis Quintero/Unsplash

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