QUARANTINE LIFE: POETRY PROMPT—POLITICS

THE PEOPLE

Over there, there’s hand-wringing and wailing 

Over here, there’s relative calm

On that side, there’s strategic dysfunction 

On this side, they’re sounding alarm

Ruthless, dishonest, and selfish

Greedy, dismissive, and crass

History knows this type of scoundrel quite well

Every one of them failed, but, alas

They keep showing up each generation 

As if their brand of evil is new

And again, they sow worry and panic

As all wannabe dictators do

They’re surrounded by “yes” men, and flunkies

Opportunists and spineless trolls

So lost in their need for supremacy 

They lose dignity, and sell their souls

The frantic campaign to quash them

Leaves so many exhausted and strained

Sometimes, it seems evil is winning

Leaving tarnished, many a good name

But History brings consolation 

Gives us all a reason to pause

Stop bombarding our minds and hearts, and

Remember the fate of the laws

Enacted to oppress the righteous 

Disenfranchise the poor and the weak

Remember that tyrants will answer

Sorely regret the power they seek

Remember there will always be those

Who won’t cower, or forfeit their souls

Who’ll stand up, and speak truth to power

As the familiar story unfolds

And yes, it IS quite familiar

There’s nothing new under the Sun

It’s just the game’s players who change, and act strange

But the game shouldn’t shock anyone

Who’s ever picked up a book, or

Watched a good documentary 

Or lived through the worst, and are still alive

To share the atrocity

All over the world there’s such pain and strife

Always spawned by the hands of a few

It’s the same ol’ scenario tried, once again

But, take heart, when History’s through

Keeping account of who did what, when, and where

And setting the record straight 

Warning all about the worst of men

And their expected fate

There will, perhaps, be a time

When sense and civility reigns

When the grifters, and clowns will never be found

Where the stench of their error remains

In rooms and halls of justice

Where honesty and truth should abide

Maybe there should be qualifications 

For the leaders of parties and nations

But that would require a citizenry

Whose appetite for integrity

Supersedes their thirst for a corrupt king

Who’ll fatten himself as their pockets bleed,

And care less if they lived or died

#politics

#vote

VRWc2024