Dictator — Summary

not good about letting others speak I am sorry for the ice in my head and heart full of decay

I am sorry for this gun which makes the hole of power

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Here, a dictator speaks in the form of an apology, which is the strange thing about it. The voice admits it is "not good about letting others speak," and then goes on to say sorry for what it has become: a head full of ice, a heart "full of decay." Those images suggest a person who has turned cold and rotten inside, without warmth or the ability to listen.

The last lines are the sharpest. The speaker apologizes for "this gun / which makes the hole of power." The gun leaves a literal hole in whoever it is aimed at, but the phrase also hints at power as an emptiness, something that hollows out the person who holds it as well as the people it hurts. The apology never promises change, though. It reads more like a confession from someone who sees the damage and keeps the weapon anyway. The mood is chilly, brief, and unsettling, with regret that feels too small for what it describes.

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