THE CRAVEN

(Apologies to E.A. Poe)

Once upon an evening boring,

Wakened from a fit of snoring,

Noticed I the pundits roaring-

O’er a president gone before.

Outrage flowed on TV gigs,

Trump played host in sunshine digs

To racial, anti-semitic pigs.

Orange man cares not a fig-

His chaos like none before.

“Tis his dark side, nothing more.”

So said I, dismissive sure

Of this bubbling chat bait lore.

“He’s a demon to the core.”

Seizing rancid racist leanings,

The Mar a Lago monster’s preening,

Hosting hateful bigots scheming

Master race vibes to the ceiling.

Choosing evil right wing demons

The tyrant plainly seeks to lure.

“But who’d believe it?” I demur.

“His mob checked brains at the door.”

At ev’ry crevice bigots bold,

Claim as theirs the right to scold,

How “mainstream media” leaves them cold.

They rave of liberal plots galore.

But I the evil barely credit,

A Twitter thread’s where I read it:

“’Tis his base, It’s nothing more.”

“Deplorables by the score.”

Scuttling dark upon our nation,

Seethe the foes of immigration-

A throwback glimpse of devastation

That once split our hallowed nation.

Crosses burning Ku Klux Klanish

Slain Civil Rights workers vanish.

Ever we have seen before.

“It’s just a banished past.” Say I.

“It’s nothing he ain’t done before.”

But now…. I’m not so safely sure.

Do we not remember dimly

Lynchings, Jim Crow segregate?

Brandished flags Confederate-

Stars and bars on poles a flapping.

Lo a century passed or more?

“Nah,” say I and shrug,

“In your guts you know he’s nuts.”

“Why should I fear madness more?”

But lest we sacrifice our amity

We must condemn this insanity.

And blessed by our shared humanity

To never shut Liberty’s door

For those of foreign race or deity

And cast off Nativist tropes of yore.

“We’re better than this,” I reason,

As we entered a hopeful season,

Of joy and peace from shore to shore.

The price of liberty’s vigilance ever,

To thwart those who long endeavor-

To peddle hate in all its measure,

And we to keep our peace secure.

On our shared Earth forever more.

“Tis this we pray and God implore.”