Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Ship of Fools, a broadside


Landscape irrevocably altered,
Old alliances have faltered;
The looming question each dawn:
“Whose side are you on?”
This winter of austerity
Can only bring prosperity
To the soft white belly
Of the fool on Hill and telly,
Whose sychophant minority consents
To sunset equalities and stir discontents,
Flattening any fanfare for the common man
By rendering opportunity null and ban.
Our constitution, so long ago knit,
Has been unraveled by the unfit,
And these very forces
Plan to upend our courses,
To suck all wind from each sail
Of the leaky boat we citizens bail.
Our anchor has thus been weighed:
Endless calumnies have put paid
To what ruthless and rudderless
Barbary captains do, regardless,
For they reign with impunity
—Our fool grants them immunity.
Time will record, but will it care
That the lawless bent the law bare,
Wreaking lives and ravaging land,
Draining toxic sludge into pristine sand?
With compass and mainsail set athwart,
A new Revolution is our last, best resort.

© 2017 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen