“The Last American Folk Song”
(Pictures and Poems)
I.
Pictures and Poems – trapped in my mind.
I dare to stumble over them.
As I walk, I seek to find
an answer for this crazy mayhem.
What has happened while I slept?
“Young princes died, while kings and queens all wept.
The Court Jester persisted in his crazy antics,
and the Ladies-in-Waiting did wail and panic.
The Court Mage relied on smoke and mirrors
to spin-doctor the tales of our dear kingdom’s terrors.
The Knights all fight, but their lights are extinguished
As the Soul of our Great American Dream is relinquished.”
Solutions to this madness, I don’t know them.
All I can offer are pictures and poems:
Have we learned anything from the classics we’ve read?
Greeks and Romans, once mighty, now dead.
The swords they lived by proved to be more
Sharper than they bargained for.
II.
“Save the Whales,” is the battle cry
of middle-class liberals, wondering why
their message is sincere, but their voice unheard.
Animals need protection, we’re entrusted with their care
But how in the world could we ever dare
Put their well-being over humans’ with but a word?!
We’ll act out this drama
to perfection. Let’s rehearse:
“You can save the whales, go right ahead,
but please save men, women, and children first.
We’ve raped the earth
and now we’ll pay
for our indiscretions great.
She’ll fail to yield her precious fruit,
we’ll weep, but
we’ll be too late.
III.
The Rich they grow richer by the sweat of the Poor.
It waters the Earth, and empires spring up.
While the Blood of the Minorities drips and lubricates
The machinery of the Man’s sinister set-up.
Happy are the Ignorant, for they,
After feeding on Fear and Pride, will play
Into the eager hands of “-Ism”:
Materialism, Sexism, and Racism (Bigotry is not an “-Ism!”)
If segregated, we’ll die while apart,
But when together, we battle for Control
Through love and understanding, we can make a start
of figuring out each one’s role.
Solutions to this madness, I don’t know them,
All I can offer are pictures and poems:
Children are our future, heirs to our past.
Let us hope this American Folk Song will be the last.
