Emperor for Life



On this very day in eighteen hundred and four

Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor forevermore

Of France, with Rome, Egypt, Turkey in his pocket

And most of the rest of the Continent about to lock it  



Including Holland, the Rhine, Warsaw, Westphalia

But even tho' Portugal fell easy, Spain was a failure

And for the next few years, as French armies were depleted 

Napoleon had no problem further east - where he unseated ...



Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro 

And then toppled virtually the rest of Germany in a swift flow

Annexing Bremen, Lubeck, and the entire kingdom of Holland ...

Then instituting sweeping social reforms all thru-out his lands



Including universal male suffrage, and freedom of religion, undenied

State constitutions ... each with a parliament and a bill of rights ...

Free public schools ... and higher education to all who qualified

Regardless of class, or religion, or any other element to nullify



The man was a genius ... both as a general and a social reformer ...

For he bestowed on the people of all his conquered lands, enormous ...

Freedoms, and with them ... the incisive rights for all to become better

And ... when you look back on it ... France and its allies are, - to the letter ...



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

7:45pm Tuesday, May 18th, 1999