by Derek Morrison

Troll Kings now ride the wave
New prophets, the world to save
Deadly weapons they now wield
Vicious words seed virtual-field
Fracking anxieties and discontents
Fuelling egos, exploiting vents
Thought leaders of the virtual age
Putative masters of creating rage
Recruiters for intellectual bubbles
Silo builders for shared troubles.

So grains of sand can feel like rocks
And tiny birds pretend they’re hawks
So setting out to make their kill
While claiming it is the people’s will
Their message is, ‘destroy the nest’
For only they know know what is best
And in their silos the people hear
Because their world is full of fear.

Farage tapped the English soul
Claiming out was his only goal
Cameron fell and so left the stage
Stoking fires of increasing rage
Then Boris made his leader grab
But was felled by Gove’s Brutus stab
Arise the saviour Come What May
“Out means out” was all she’d say.

Because Ed had left his brothers’ Band
His Stone of Promises failed to stand
So Comrade Corbyn had come to pass
Minor Troll King of the working class
His disciples dug a deep deep moat
On which to launch their leaky boat
To hold a Party for times gone by
Only true believers need apply
Comrade Corbyn denied the link
He as Captain would make it sink
General Elections he may not win
But he only existed to expunge the sin
Of heretics from the New Labour sect
So comrades again command respect
Come What May had gold struck
She just could not believe her luck
How all the stars could so align
Surely this was a sacred sign.

But now, even bigger kites would fly
Enter true Grand Masters of the virtual lie.

Apprentice seducer makes Trumpet call
Roaring promises of a mighty wall
“Keep them out” became his war cry
“Push them out” meant his lesser fry
Irradiating patriotism until mutations form
So cancerous nationalism becomes the norm
And in its magnetic lies and hyperbole
Attractive solutions to set them free
Spawned post-truths that did so resonate
Bypassing any intellectual gate
Mind antibodies readied to deploy
Nascent dissonance to destroy.

Putin could so rub his hands with glee
As such Trumpet notes were his key
His virtual missiles now had the range
For targeting insecurities of global change
Anxieties and prejudices that lay beneath
Were nudged now into sharp relief
So Clinton fell and she was no more
As Trumpet blasted through the door
And so the Troll Kings to their surprise
Found they had won their mighty prize.

Meanwhile, on East Asia’s stage
An angry Troll King paced his cage
For half-brother love he had none
So he knew what must now be done
So Kim Jong-nam met sticky end
Flyers’ VX face-cream now latest trend
For projecting power and striking fear
Into non-believers in leaders dear.

And in Europe too, things look tough
As motley prophets strut and puff
Promising Utopias by going alone
As long as they ascend the throne
“Keep them out” is their war cry
“Push them out” means lesser fry
But making ‘the other’ disappear
Removes how Troll Kings focus fear
And then new villains must be found
“Enemy of the People” become Trumpet sound.

But such Troll Kings don’t exist to lead
For it’s ego furnaces that drive their need
Populist woodlands must now provide the fuel
Where such wolves feed and dribble drool
The populus however will prove fickle food
For the Troll Kings have so misunderstood
That true leaders always put others first
Discarding approbation to slake ego’s thirst.

[To listen to this verse select below]

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