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What Did Paul Revere?

Listen, my children, and shed a tear,
Because everything that he held dear
Did vanish in the blink of an eye
And banished, those who dared to defy
The Bill of Lies of the Reign of Fear—
Listen, my children, and draw ye near.

Neither guillotine nor hangman’s noose—
Their weapon of choice, a gruesome juice
Injected into our nation’s arm,
By those who swore they would cause no harm
And then stood aside and watched her die—
Listen, my children, and for her cry.

Listen, my children, the end is nigh
And so to your country, say goodbye.
No trumpets sound and no banners wave
As they toss her into an unmarked grave.
And now that there’s nowhere left to run,
The nightmare, children, has just begun.

So what can we say did old Paul revere?
After years of deceit, it’s no longer clear.

.

.

Could We?

They tell us what to do and we obey.
They tell us what to think and what to say.
They tell us when to sit and where to stand.
Our hearts beat to the sound of their command.
And if, some day, they should no longer be,
Then could we, by their absence, become free?

.

.

A Nursery Rhyme 

The farmer in the dell,
He died and ain’t it swell?
He wouldn’t wear a mask
And so he went to hell.

But neither was he keen,
On taking the vaccine.
They called the CDC
Who made him quarantine.

The farmer was upset,
So he won’t soon forget
To do what Fauci tells him to—
On that, friend, you can bet.

.

.

Joe Tessitore is a retired New York City resident and poet.

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9 Responses

  4. C.B. Anderson

    The words of these poems are deceptively simple, but line after line they strengthen and develop the main ideas each poem embodies. What we have here, in other words, is thematic coherence, though many of the lines defy any regular scansion.

    Reply
  6. Mary Gardner

    Mr. Joe, I enjoyed these.
    “Could We?” can be sung to “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.”

    Reply
  7. Margaret Coats

    Joe, this is a good group, from which the Paul Revere poem stands out in fierce power. Not only is it structured in battle array, but you’ve planted bombs of historical allusion, such as those to the Bill of Rights and the Reign of Terror. And it appears just as our nation’s armed forces are under threat from their own superiors. Some of the “children” among them are brave and lucid enough to recall what Paul Revere held dear.

    Reply
    • Joe Tessitore

      Thanks Margaret, it’s always good to hear from you, and thank you all very much.

      Reply
  8. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Joe, these are an excellent trio of poems on our current dilemmas. My favorite is “Could We?”. You make a very valid point here… and, sadly, I honestly feel a huge swathe of the population don’t even know what the word “freedom” means. I hope I’m wrong.

    Reply

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