This poem is a look at how power corrupts.

Cain was a lawyer
with political ambitions.
He farmed it is true .
But that was only a hobby.

He was a handsome man
with a carefully blended voice
that seemed to say:
"I am one of you
but just a little bit smarter."

He sat one day
in his field of grain
and began to write legal documents.
This was his greatest sin.

The quil pen twisted and darted
with an air of authority in Cain's long fingers
sliding across the parchment.
Cain was on a roll.

Cain's first document was entitled,
The Eminent Whereas.
It was simple, elegant and inspiring
and by design
contained no information whatsoever.

The second document
was The Great Heretofore.
Unlike the Eminent Whereas,
it was full of meaning
but totally incomprehensible to the masses.

This document had flowed
out in a single stroke of the pen
like a rolling wave
upon the open sea.

But the next one taxed Cain to his limits.
And the furrows of his hairy brow
drooled perspiration
as he labored through the night.

At the rising of the sun next morn',
a cry of joy rose from Cain.
It was finished.
And Cain hopped about the valley
like a butterfly gone mad.

There sat the final document
soon to be hidden deep beneath the earth.
Unlike the other words of Cain,
these were not for public consumption.
But he knew them by heart.

This manuscript was short,
but so full of meaning.
It needed no title for unlike the others,
it was self explanatory.

The manuscript read simply;
"Do what I like
or I will kill
the peasants."

The draft had read;
"Do what I like
or I will kill
you."

But Cain later realized
that it was very unprofessional
to kill other gentlemen.
Hence the change to peasants.

To Cain, the definition
of a peasant was very obvious
and therefore needed no elaboration.
A peasant was anyone
who couldn't afford a good lawyer.

Later, Cain killed his brother, Freedom
which was a tactical error
since Freedom had a good lawyer,
who was God.

In the ensuing trial
God interrogated Cain.
"Are you not Freedom's keeper?"
But Cain replied,
"No, I am just a public servant."

God let Cain live
since he was a gentleman.
But being a gentleman
became out of fashion for a time.

But Cain's document lived on
in various forms from then until now.
And this document
has been rewritten many times.

It is strange that no one seems
able to read it.
Perhaps it is easy to ignore
red ink.