Public Servants

          Politicians are like diapers;
          they need to be changed often
          and for the same reason.
                      ~ Mark Twain

Weeds grow up

through cracks
formed in the aftermath
of any reign of terror.

Seemingly irreparable damage,
attributed to villains invisible,
is incalculable; somehow,
there is no money for repairs.

Wobbling platitudes
roll off the tongues
of the political class
we were free to vote
into office

to work for us.

If you are, like Flynn,
in the pockets of the powerful,
you need not be free or even real,
but you can afford to paint on a smile
and say g’day and it’ll be all right.

The cracks in the street,
the decay of a republic,
the decline of democracy,
and the absence of common decency
don’t figure into your paycheck.

© 2011 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen

Note: the origins of the phrase “in like Flynn” are unclear,
but in the context of this poem, all could be applicable.