Saith the Czar

My people come to me and make their moan:
“We starve, your Majesty⁠—give us a stone.”
That’s flat rebellion!⁠—how the devil dare
They starve right in my capital? Their prayer
For something in their bellies I will meet
With that which I’ll not trouble them to eat.
They ask for greater freedom. No, indeed⁠—
What happened to my ancestor who freed
The serfs? His grateful subjects duly flung
Something that spoke to him without a tongue.
So he was sacrificed for Freedom’s sake,
And gathered to his fathers with a rake.
I from Autocracy my people free?
Ah, would to Heaven they could deliver me!