Empire

*Empire*

I will take these two hands and with cracked then bloody knuckles I’ll build an Empire.
I will build a fortress out of rubble,
I’ll wear myself down to a stubble.
I will then make an autonomous list:
Then I will rule
with an Iron Fist.

***

This is My Empire.
It is my own.
From My Blood,
My Sweat,
My Struggle and hard work,
My Great Black Sea
from a body of hurt.
Intellectual compromise is forbidden—
I dictate law,
And so it is written:

1. What I say—Goes.
2. What I think—Flows.
3. Every line must be real.
4. Thou shalt not steal.
5. I shall write from a pure-driven place.
6. One who writes for money shall be ruled a disgrace.
7. Vain motives will result in shame.
8. Thou shalt not write in pursuit of fame.
9. Unoriginal work is the Ultimate Sin.
10. I vow to always go All In.

I welcome
Any Gender
Any Race
Any Creed:
This palace was not built
on Greed.

Even if it must be in order to endure.

Every emperor, king, and ruler
could not govern on heart & soul alone…

So I will venture where Caesar never dared,
I will equip for a battle that
Augustus never fared;
I’ll turn a Dark Age into Palatine,
and I will build it
With Hardly a Dime.

But when I build it—
Will they come?
I’ll stand by my kingdom until
kingdom come.

And should this forsaken fortress soon collapse:

My efforts will rebuild & double
&
I’ll begin once again,
rebuilding from rubble.

From Art of Mind III: The Evolution of a Trilogy
Copyright © 2013 Clyde Aidoo