SOCIETY

He Talks a Great Deal About Strength

Songs about Ordinary Human Beings and Strongmen (2)

Photo © Øivind H. Solheim

I have lived long enough
to recognise a person
who loves the mirror more than the people.
There is always such a face
in times like ours.

A man who enters the room
as if the world were created for him alone.
He talks a great deal about strength
but cannot bear to be contradicted.

He demands loyalty, applause, and obedience.
Like a child who never learned
that other people have lives too.
And perhaps the strange thing is not
that such people exist.

The strange thing is
that we hand them the keys
to the entire house.

Because while they shout the loudest
about honour, power, and greatness,
Ordinary people stand quietly
and hold society together.