After Listening to World News Tonight
When the next emperor dies
and arrives in Hades
there will be great applause
from the other emperors who
arrived there before him.
They will drop pitchforks,
kneel in bonfire and bow
to their newest colleague,
the one for whom Satan
now rises and offers
his throne so the new man
can reign in glory as
Emperor of Hades until
someone more evil arrives,
someone whose glee for war
harmed even more people,
people with little to lose
except for their lives.