{This is the first post in my series Sixty Days. It is now sixty days before our presidential election, and I thought I might take a trip down memory lane in the next few weeks, with poems, stories and blogposts I have written during the Trump Presidency. Most of them were influenced by current events at the time, and so will serve as a reminder of what these years have been like. This one is set on the night before Election Day, 2016, and was written at about that time. I recall hearing a commentator use the phrase, “I weep for the nation and the world,” and the poem grew from there. Thanks for reading!}
I weep for the nation and the world.
For what will come Election Night?
A white-hot flame. Dumb lava, bright,
Will burn away our every right;
Will blow up government, and despite
All pride, consume our Flag, unfurled.
I weep for the nation and the world.
The choice is clear for all to see:
A queen versus mediocrity;
Bombast versus ways and means;
Experience versus hateful speech.
They say it’s close. Our fingers curl.
I weep for the nation and the world.
But who’s to blame for this sad state?
Who clutched at the comments, full of hate?
Who broadcast rallies—and “debates”
That failed the promise of the name?
Reporters sat, and knit, and purled.
I weep for the nation and the world.
How must our Allies gauge this breeze,
As slyly smile our enemies?
So do the Mighty fall, and trees
Once grand and great, rot with disease.
Welcome him, our nation’s Leading Churl.
Copyright 2016 Andrea W. LeDew (written 2016)
For another ominous piece, read Monsters and Demons. See more of this series at Sixty Days.
We’ve fallen, and we’re rotting on the ground.
Oh dear. 😊
Oh, dear, indeed.
I think the tree is standing, but parts of it have always been rotten. We just tried very hard not to notice.
I look forward to future installments in this series!
Thank you Brad. I think you’re right: our institutions are stronger than any one man. Just as when an overweight bully hangs a tire swing on one weak limb and by swinging, breaks it, that will not fell the mighty oak. The wounded nation will heal and live on.
I think you’re right, there, Brad, and that’s a good way to put it: “We just tried hard not to notice.” My emotional pendulum tends to take wild swings into despair after I’ve watched the evening news.
Let us hope for only the must dreary, dull and ordinary news reports, following November 3rd.
Yes!! Dreary, dull, and ordinary is just what is needed after November 3.