Rats, cockroaches, tyrants and rotten politicians.
Things you can't say out loud, they just move in the shadows, when least expected.
Here is presented, for your dark pleasure, an allegory wrapped in surreal whimsy - of infestation, tyranny, and quiet rebellion.
Life...Visual...shadowy...decaying - existing in a symbolic underground realm ruled by rats and roaches. 🐀🪳 Human pests teem, a direct menace amidst surreal architecture and questionable living, steeped in silent rebellion and unsettling beauty.
The gloom births resentment. Angry militant groups everywhere, prepared to storm the battlements of the 'superior' tyrants.
A rebellion of the proletariats...a no-holds-barred war on corruption for survival. Each creature conjures a different form of resilience against the rot.
🐀 Rats...resourceful, lurking in the shadows of neglect.
🪳 Cockroaches...tenacious, thriving in decay.
👑 Tyrants...power-hungry, cloaked in faux majesty.
💢 Rotten bullies...the loud echoes of insecurity masked as dominance.
This lineup is metaphorical, a surreal painting, and a sharp-edged stanza that bites with truth?
“The Kingdom Below”.
In the underbelly, four castes clawed for dominion. They had crowns, power, riches, castles made of precious stones...yet it was only filth.
🐀 The Rats ran the tunnels. They teemed like fog in forgotten passageways, stitching together crumbling walls. Scrappy archivists of silence, they remembered every war waged, every crumb stolen. They called it survival. The surface-dwellers called it 'the plague'.
🪳 The Cockroaches represented decay. Resistant to disease, living while the weak wither away and die. Unrepentant, wearing rusted armor...they stomped through abandoned homes like royalty in exile. When poisoned, they rose again. When crushed, they multiplied. The tyrant feared their persistence - he could conquer minds, but not their unyielding bodies.
👑 The Tyrant ruled above, his throne a heap of broken clocks. Time had no loyalty. Neither did the people. He wore velvet lined silk with cruelty, his words soaked in honeyed poison. He labeled every rebel a pest, every truth a lie.
💢 The Rotten Bullies flanked his reign. Brutish, with fists for logic and egos for hearts. They barked laws not to protect, but to humiliate. They laughed at hunger, mocked dissent, and drowned virtue in arrogance.
In the shadows, an uprising simmered - not loud, not violent. Just clever. The rats translated forgotten blueprints. The roaches delivered messages sealed in breadcrumbs. And deep below, a child...neither rat nor roach, neither bully nor king...drew maps in dust. Her lantern flickering with purpose.
In the mildew corridors of forgotten law, they rose.
No trumpets, no fire, but with gnawing silent grace. The rats rewrote maps on peeling walls. The roaches tapped messages in dust and decay.
They didn’t march...they spread. Beneath the tyrants’ thrones of rusted pipe and rotting bread, tiny hearts pulsed with purpose.
One by one, lights flickered out. The underground had no need for light - only memory, only will.
The rebellion had no names. Just whispers. Movement.
Just the truth... before the mirror dared to fracture.
🐀🪳
When the tyrant's mirror finally cracked and the bullies turned on one another, the underground exhaled.
The child emerged with no army. Just truth, blooming from forgotten stone.
A quiet fire lighting the way.
About the Creator
Novel Allen
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. (Maya Angelou). Genuine accomplishment is not about financial gain, but about dedicating oneself to activities that bring joy and fulfillment.
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Comments (6)
great imagery to depict current affairs
Wow, you captured the truth of today's world so brilliantly! So much truth to this
Breathtaking in sentiment & execution! I was particularly taken by your brilliant description of the roaches. You gave them their dignity and you impressively had them sounding resilient & regal! Your Descriptions of each party were divine! I loved everything about this one No! Go gurl you flame-broiled this one! A++ my dear! 🎉💪🏾🫶🏾☺️
I like the imagery. But anytime I see rats and roaches in the same glance, I can’t help but think of that bb king line “Ive aid in a ghetto flat, cold and numb,i heard that rats tell the bedbugs to give the roaches some.” From “why I sing the blues” I think. Great music, so it’s not a bad association, but it definitely distracted me a bit and framed your story in a Specific light. Anyway, powerful writing and I appreciate the optimistic upturn at the end. The set up feels timely, let’s hope your ending can be real-world prophetic
Perfect representation of the tyranny of today...and a child shall lead them...echoes of what is to come.
Metaphor much? ;)