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Death of a Dictator
by Denis Glover
Death of a Dictator - Denis Glover
Death of a Dictator
That night the salvage ship was wrecked,
And a fire-engine burst into flames.
There was a riot and commotion at the police station,
With the police taking each others’ names.
Unearthly laughter ran round the cathedral vaulting,
And all the angels and gargoyles were exulting.
first published in Since Then (Mermaid Press, 1957), © Denis Glover 1957, from Enter Without Knocking (Enlarged edition, Pegasus Press, 1971), used by permission of the Denis Glover Literary Estate. Recording from the Waiata New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive 1974.