The Election of Barack Obama

ii

The last emperor confided

resting his feet, reaching for the water jug -

"I had a cheering thought today.

I realised the past is just

another set of possibilities

as rich in guidance and new ideas

as anything present or still to come.

The dead may still belong in the dance"

The last emperor was almost weeping now.

"And straightaway, the walls of the City

renewed themselves in my mind

and the dead rose from their mass grave

took back their faces, their noble eyes,

and became again my counsellors,

comforting me with their wit and high learning."

iii

When the great City fell all those years ago

the emperor had to give up communicating

with crowds. Now he secretes words in code

under stones and between buses, whisperings

deep in caves by the shore, scribblings

borne in grey balloons loosed to ride hurricanes.

It's more intimate that way, he says,

more telling

more effective in getting his message across.

He tends to avoid caves for his resting.

They are too obvious and accesible.

He goes for between-space

and between-time

on the edges of snug living.

Fly-tips do well, for instance,

or gaps between fences

in the established parts of suburbia

where arguments over boundaries

can open space up a bit.

Allotment huts have proved satisfactory

shared with the odd fox or down-and-out,

or patches of spare paving beneath bridges

beyond where the cyclists pass.

And like the hawk and red kite

he is drawn to the motorway

and will often bed down within feet

of the juggernauts

blasting through

their sharp beams

searching infinity all night.

Since the last emperor lost his name

he's been invisible.

He asks himself,

does it matter

where I place myself

if no one can find me there ?

He wanders from city to quiet fastness

and there's no difference

except in the impact on him.

No one knows he has gone

and no one notes his arrival.

Yet on the mountain trail

he adds a small stone

to each cairn he passes.

There is no name on it

and no one will know

he placed it there.

But the stones will continue

to serve and guide

after the emperor is dead.

"I've learned to be

an invisible servant,"

says the last emperor

to himself.