THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES

From the nether regions he emerged,
Scarcely known.
Into the limelight
Strode he,
Colossus-like.
A meteoric messiah
Selling dreams of gold.
A promise of alchemy.

Hope
Was welcomed by hyperbole.
And the mandate of the masses.

Feigning intelligence,
Triumphantly he marched
Onward in haste.
Monarch of all he surveyed.
Accompanied by the unctuous.
A crescendo of drum rolls
And devious, Machiavellian lieutenants.
Doted on by the media,
Feted by the fawning multitudes
Who put a halo around his head.

And then the oracle failed.
The promised dawn never materialized.
An envelope of darkness descended.
The aura wore off.
Rose tinted glasses saw through opacity
To where tarnish met base metal,
Exposing
The false promises
Of a false god.
With a forked tongue.

A jackal, a chameleon.
A man of straw,
With feet of clay.