Outside
Agitators
At the end
of the trail
Chief
Joseph of the Nez Perce
Stands
with pride for his people
Saying: I
will fight no more forever
At the end
of a long bus ride
MLK sits
in a Birmingham jail
And writes
that justice is the rightful
Inheritance
of all human beings
At the end
of a dusty march
Cesar
Chavez stands with the farmworkers
Of Solano
and Bakersfield
To declare
their right to organize
At the end
of a long hard road
Steinbeck
looks out across the great
Fields of
plenty and proclaims the right
Of all men
and women to live in dignity
At the end
of a long futile campaign
To win
final passage of the ERA
Bella
Abzug declares that the age of
Gender
inequality is over
In times
of crisis at the end of the day
Leaders
rise to the occasion
To calm a
divided nation
To ease
our collective pain
To bring
us together
(if only
for a moment)
To
reassure and awaken our faith
At the end
of a twitter rampage
Our
president wonders aloud
If he can
send his opponents to jail
If he can
outlaw voting by mail
If he can
order soldiers to crush
Protesters
in the streets
In times
of crisis
Leaders
answer the call
Pretenders
fall
