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PRACTICAL POLITICS

The tyrant (Tony
Blair for example)
has to be handled
carefully. This sort needs,
as we all need air,
flattery. Flattery (as my gay
friends would say)
will get you everywhere.
How foolish and self-indulgent
our abuse - we who would never do
what he had to do
to reach real power.
How could we who protest
the evil in the world understand
power, led astray as we are
by our own desire,
how could we learn the skills
of the courtier?
But how can we descend
into the mire
without getting ever
dirtier?
So which do we prefer?
The vicious who do what they need to do?
Or the virtuous
who don't?

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