{The first line of this poem came from former President Obama’s remarks on the tragic shootings that afflicted El Paso Texas and Dayton Ohio this week.
I thought the expression “people of goodwill” sounded outdated and quaint enough to be poetic, and the rest flowed from it.
This is my response to the stalling that seems habitual these days in government, on this and many other issues.
Of course the citzenry is not blameless. Their passivity and apathy act as enablers to the government’s inaction addiction.
So here is my “call to arms” so to speak, to those sleepy citizens, Not just on the issue of the too easy availability of firearms, but on many other pressing, but more or less deliberately neglected, matters of national and international importance.}
People of goodwill,
Come take the journey,
Join the fight,
Though it be uphill.
Come lift the gurney
With all your might.
While the others jaw
And jab and bicker,
Strut and crow,
Lean into the saw.
This log is thicker
Than we know.
Though the powers that be
May own the present,
Cling to power,
Invincible are we.
The future’s essence,
It is ours.
So be not faint of heart.
We’ve conquered demons,
Exorcized
Worse devils. We’ll outsmart
These, bend their knees and
Minimize
Their stain. They’ll, too,be long forgotten.
Never yet has Bad prevailed,
When honest people of goodwill
Put on the yoke of Good Travail.
Copyright 2019 Andrea LeDew
I love the two ending lines!
Thank you Liz!