Separation (Church and State)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Separation

 

The separation of church and state

Is a wall that should not be broken

Of the horrors we might contemplate

This one should be unspoken

 

The wonders of hypocrisy

They claim to love our nation best

Betray our young democracy

By failing a fundamental test

 

Religion has no proper place

In the governance of a nation

To human rights a plain disgrace

Like sanctified discrimination

 

For it has never ever been as clear

As it is on this fair day

The collapse of principle we fear

Has led us far astray

 

Keep whatever faith you will

It is not for me to say

Honor the creed thou shall not kill

And worship as you may

 

The Irony

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Irony

 

A change in the Oval Office promises

To bring a purge of the government

A purge of the FBI

A purge of the people’s house

A purge of the electorate

A purge of American citizenship

Just like the Red Scare of the fifties

 

The irony is:

This time the Reds will be doing the purge

This time the litmus test requires

An alliance to the Beast of the East

A betrayal of NATO

The abandonment of Ukraine

 

They call it America first

But it is Russia calling the shots

They call national patriotism

But it is loyalty to an adversary

They call it the voice of the people

But the people fall silent

In shock and awe

 

What have we done?

How can we make amends?

 

It is far easier to lose a democracy

Than it is to gain it back

 

Taiwan Quake

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CATASTROPHES

Taiwan Quake

 

We have so many manmade tragedies

We forget that nature has her own

The earth will quake, the wind will moan

The sea will rise, we will atone

And they will rouse our sympathies

Though they are far from home

 

In the shadow of a fearful beast

Taiwan suffers disproportionately

Though they endure it graciously

With modesty and dignity

Their fear looks to the east

Across the China Sea

 

A quake has hit them hard

They must turn to us for aide

Though their character is staid

Reparations must be made

We must hold them in our regard

Until the terror fades

 

At times like this we will remember

We are all in this together

Like birds of a certain feather

Through every kind of weather

From the first of January to December

To help is our endeavor

 

Moral Dilemma

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Moral Dilemma

 

I believe in my bones conscription is wrong

As an army of conscripts is weak

I believe that the cause of Ukraine is strong

But the prospect grows dimmer to bleak

 

It is a dilemma that cannot be unwound

They are fighting a brutal beast

Yet they stand on shaky moral ground

Which path is offensive the least?

 

There must be a way to defeat this foe

Without becoming what we detest

The price for aggressive war must grow

In unity from the east to the west

 

The affront of Russia must never prevail

This evil must be stopped in its tracks

The way of war must be derailed

An end to all imperialist attacks

 

Until then we live in compromise

Until then these wars will not end

Until this world becomes more wise

Our moral foundations must bend

 

The Greatness of the Don

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Greatness of the Don

 

No one but the Don

Could have proven with such certainty

The abject failure of public education

 

No one but the Don

The Don and only the Don

Could have demonstrated the failure

Of representative democracy

 

No one but the Don

A genius in his own mind

Could have proven beyond doubt

The ignorance of the masses

 

We may point the finger of blame

At a myriad of random factors

A convergence of the planets

An alignment of the stars

The flaws of a two-party system

The folly of the Electoral College

The corruption of the body politick

A spell of mass delusion

Yet the truth remains:

No one but the Don could have

Brought the message home

 

The choice we now face is whether

To confirm the greatness of the Don

Or return to the greatness of America:

The ideal, the hope, the dream