The Mask of Power and Piety

Here’s a 12-stanza English poem (each stanza = one paragraph) contrasting the similarities and differences between a corrupt leader and a hypocrite sadhu: The Mask of Power and Piety A leader stands in shining halls, With banners waving, marble walls; His voice a promise, loud and grand, Yet hollow as the desert sand. A sadhu sits in saffron hue, Pretending faith, but false, untrue; With beads he counts, with chants he cries, But in his heart, deception lies. Both wear a mask the crowd admires, One feeds on votes, the other on fires; Of blind devotion, unearned trust, They turn pure hope to selfish dust. The leader builds with coins of lies, A palace tall that never flies; The sadhu builds with holy lore, But sells salvation like a store. One swears to guard the nation’s fate, Yet fills his coffers, bribes create; The other swears to cure the soul, Yet takes the gold, betrays the goal. Both preach of duty, sacrifice, Yet walk the lanes of lust and vice; Their words are sweet, their deeds are foul, Two different masks, the same dark soul. But differences also rise in view, The leader rules with laws untrue; The sadhu rules by faith and fear, Both chains alike, yet not so near.