SIDECAR

If to ride pillion on a motorbike would be

Incompatible with the dignity and/or safety

Of a theocratic leader in a Centrist society,

Then let him go sidecar and be driven from place to place

In the comparative comfort and safety

Of a specially-constructed car, an escort

Of independent motorbikes in close attendance.

In such fashion, he would be able to continue,

If desired, with any pressing business

And would be absolutist, isolated from fellow passengers

And the motorbike's actual driver, self-contained

In a small but strong compartment,

Attesting to the contraction of materialism

From democratic to theocratic levels.