To the Statespeople

A poem by Achuthan Panikath

Mon Aug 03 2026

Never forget your mandate.
Your throne is a place of work.
You're as powerful as a librarian, and not a book more.
You were not elected because you are better,
You were simply given permission to serve.
You are the stream that reflects the hues above
Do not presume you color the sky.
You must carve the way through stubborn rocks,
But only as willed by the gravity of shared consciousness.
You must refuse to be stalled by the dams of ignorance;
Find the cracks that let you gush and guide the blind to seas.

The day you rise above your mandate, walk.
Let their words of praise not smudge your mirror.
No makeup shall hide the truth of being human:
You are just tradeoffs, contradictions, and convictions.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc;
Sed post promissum, ergo propter promissum.
And when you can't, you must bow;
Bravely drop the scalpel when your hands begin to fear,
Proudly walk away the day before the chants are sung.