.
O hail you lied-to, baffled Yanks,
__false-fed with sick afront’ry,
If only rigging votes were pranks
__not killing your good country.
I know you’re in the midst of it,
__the bin bags full of ballots
That bulge their plastic ’til they split
__and tumble over pallets
Stacked with further postal votes
__that Deviants would bury
With all the evidence that bloats
__so Christmas won’t be merry.
The Democrats have falsed their name,
__their game’s not democratic.
Your leader’s gains they would defame,
__their greed would freeze you static.
Their sympathetic media
__have tried to dull your clearness
And pull you to hysteria
__but please still stand firm, fearless.
Your conscience they’d dance down with swords
__in dark dominion’d revels,
Cavort with corpses, sleep with frauds,
__been bedded down with devils.
But you have seen their infamies,
__now tipping points of crisis,
Have smelt their guilty invent’ries
__that spew from their colitis.
So don’t drop out nor let truth fade
__nor conscience strength start fraying,
Withstand the demons’ midnight raid
__for dawn’s fanfare is playing.
.
.
Damian Robin is a writer and editor living in the United Kingdom.
Thank you, Damian, for your empathy, as well as your enjoyable rhymes (especially afron’try/country, and media/hysteria). I hope you are right that “dawn’s fanfare is playing.”
See reply at bottom of these postings . . .
Damian, you present a somber, realistic picture–and you are able to give it just the right touch of lightness with a sprightly meter and a few encouraging words. Thank you very much! Merry seventh day of Christmas!
Thanks Margaret, glad you found encouragement. I’m a bit confused about you intimating that 30th Dec (when you posted your comment) is seventh day of Christmas. I would count it as the fifth or sixth. Though the time zone difference between UK and US may have kicked in.
And looking forward to great things on the twelfth day of Christmas (Jan 6th, by my childhood reckoning ) in Washington D C and around the world!!
Cynthia and Margaret have already nailed the pith of the matter with their comments. For myself, I am just glad to read a parallax view from across the pond. And I am always thrilled to hear from the nation that has always been our best ally (in later centuries, at least).
Yes, we live in independent countries now. And have nearly the same a language :^) .
Damian, thank you for this spot on observation that spells out the skullduggery afoot with poetic aplomb. The truth cannot fade and I really appreciate your efforts to continue shining a spotlight on it. I hope with all my heart your marvellous closing couplet comes to fruition. Here’s hoping for a better and brighter New Year! Thanks again for fighting for our freedom with honesty and linguistic finesse.
Hi, Susan.
“[P]oetic aplomb” and “linguistic finesse” . . . I’ll put those in my future c.v. . (Being from the UK, you’ll know that abbreviation of “curriculum vitae”, Latin for “course of life”, “resume” in the US.) And may I say it was you who tagged them to my piece? (That would get some kudos!) “[F]reedom with honesty” I also like. But I’m getting too self-puffing now.
Re the ending of the poem, please look at my comment to Joe Tessitore, below. (I’m actually replying from bottom to top. )
I think you, too, have belief beyond the hope that good will triumph. We must believe that for it to happen. Our thoughts, like prayers, are so powerful.
Let me add that I hope you’re right as well.
Things have a very dire feel to them, I’m sorry to say.
Thanks Joe, these are huge things happening in the US around the Election. And there is a mass of global happenings that lead to me looking at times now as apocalyptic.
It’s great you have hope. May I suggest we also have belief . Strong certainty that good will triumph. What else can we think, if we are not to get depressed, act lackluster, and let the evil go on. I strongly believe that good will thrive.
(I think you also believe this.)
Thanks Cynthia.
Other supportive words are Kipling’s “If”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if—
and many of Churchill’s words, especially
https://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~jcslee/poetry/churchill_nevergivein.html
with the famous
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
As there is so much irrational stuff being reported, it seems we can only call it evil. So much is beyond one individual’s direct control, the greatest thing we can do is pray. Do you have any quotes on the power of prayer?
About pronouncing the words you mention, Cynthia. I often want to indicate by ordinary spelling when words, like ‘effrontery’ and ‘media,’ are to be read as two syllables or three syllables. If three, I leave as is. If two syllables are intended, I will use the old way of ellipsis (leaving something out) and apostrophe to indicate this.
(I may have spelled/spelt ‘effrontery’ wrong above :^/ .) However, with such words it works okay – ‘effront’ry’.
Although I’m intending ‘media’ in this poem to be three syllables, when I’ve wanted ‘media’ to be read as two syllables, I’ve not found a solution. I’ve thought of ‘med’ya’ but it goes too far from the original to be representative. Any suggestions to resolve this conundrum, most welcome..
These comments to Cynthia should be at the top of this page – I did not refresh from when I first came to the page.
I really enjoy unusual, creative rhymes, so the pronunciation fit in, the way I was hearing it, and even the ellipse didn’t bother me.
Its penultimate syllable (-te-) being a schwa, “effrontery” (with or without the apostrophe) works fine as a three-syllable word. And you are right, there is no good way to render “media” as two syllables. Rhyme it with “encyclopedia.”
Damian, the clever rhyme choices and melodic appeal of your poem make a fitting contrast to the ongoing discord stemming from a rigged election.
It is such a pity to see a great country in a crisis of truth.
Thanks for your welcome comments on my poem, David. There is a crisis of truth, and much strong hope and bold belief that Truth and Good will succeed.