Truth to Power (National Poetry Day)

Speaking ‘truth to power’, it’s claimed
Can leave the despot feeling shamed
But Ghandi, Bonhoeffer, Vaclav Havel - 
all saw this principle unravel.
The powerful already know what’s true.
Concealing truth is what they do
The oppressed are those who need to hear
the truth spoken loud and clear


(Noam Chomsky asserts: "power knows the truth already, and is busy concealing it".)