2022.1 Diplomatic Impunity

My first attempt at a Rondo Redoublé, courtesy of Ann Atkins, who persuaded me to put the type on the forms template. Inspired by real events.

I am a stranger in this stranger land,
now stranded in a court of foreign kings,
finding my assumptions built on sand,
branded by what my occlusion brings.

My confusion oscillates and swings;
I am humbled where I once was grand.
And charm now clatters where it used to sing.
I am a stranger in this stranger land,

This encounter’s not what I had planned.
Speeches hobble, envying the wings
of favoured members of the louder band
not “stranded” in this court of other kings,

I’m used to being heeded, is the thing,
instead of frozen by these flames I’ve fanned.
I try to dodge the arrows and the stings,
finding my assumptions built on sand,

It seems that “arrogance” is my new brand;
I listen to the truth with which that sings,
and wish they’d go ahead and have me banned,
branded by what my occlusion brings.

They say that mud, once flung, will always cling
I’ll have to work to scrub it from my hands,
stop loading ammunition into slings
where fear has left me washed up on this strand.
I am a stranger in this.

Image from Borgen Magazine. Description in alt-text.