Et Tu, Brutus?

In the world of science and reason the tease 

'what came first, the chicken or the egg'?

tests logic. In the dimmer world of politics

the grim 'which comes first, fear or propaganda'

tests the longevity of dictatorships where

tyrants' survival antennae are sharply attuned

to what cannot be seen, heard or felt by others 

yet identified by the office holder who knows 

a palace revolt, a coup, a putsch is all too predictable 

and sooner or later a trusted cringing sycophant 

whom favour has elevated will initiate a secret 

brew swallowed by a coterie of aspirational 

survivalists willing and eager to end a long reign 

of undisputed tyranny and so it is that the 

slightest signal will alert that antenna and the 

massive, hammer-wielding arm of a tyrant 

aroused to rage will nail those traitors to the 

crucifix of yet another failed rebellion.