I watch
as different people,
with different ideologies,
sometimes with none,
fight for the right
to exert power.
"Pick me, me,"
they clamor
as they promise
they're the best
image of myself.
They'll impose what I want
upon others, then we'll all
be free to pursue
the happiness I envision.
I pledge allegiance
with my vote
of sad resignation
knowing there's so much
about others' causes
I don't know.
Still, I engage
with a kernel
of naive hope.
knowing there's so much
about others' causes
I don't know.
Still, I engage
with a kernel
of naive hope.
(For Susan's prompt - citizenship, at Poet's United.)
Ouch. How true it is...
ReplyDeleteI suspect it is hard to sustain even a kernel of hope, given some of the alternatives. Up here, we are holding our collective breath and hoping every sane person votes!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe lesser of two evils is the way to vote. Otherwise you are going to end up with a game show host with orange hair pilfered from an endangered species( the South American brown spider monkey)as a President.
DeleteIf he gets in ...anything can happen in four years...The outback is looking really safe at the moment.
"sad resignation" and "pledge allegiance with my vote" Yes and yes. your narrator speaks for many who take that gesture as a little hope, including me. I fear that it is naive, but believe anyway. The alternatives are submission or revolution.
ReplyDeleteYes, well....I used to have a naive hope; but now there is more than a dose of fear. It is sad for me that now I vote for the candidate whose direction I fear least. And there is a sad resignation that these are the choices offered this year, so I have to pick one.
ReplyDeleteGood luck America it looks as though you are going to make a mess of things like many other nations including mine! Are poets the only sane ones? Hope is all we have left.
ReplyDeleteStill, I engage with a kernel of naive hope...
ReplyDeleteThis is beautifully poignant and true.. somehow we must keep our heads up high and battle through the storm.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
i wonder if the adage in bengali whatever happens happens for the best is true at all..but there is also that "kernel / of naive hope" we cling to...
ReplyDeleteIt really is becoming hard to keep that kernel of hope alive... but maybe it's all we have now...
ReplyDeleteI think hope (naive or otherwise) is what keeps the world turning - we should celebrate all its Pollyanna's!
ReplyDeleteNot sure, if its naiveté, or just plain frustration with the political system that driving the current wave of hate, around the world. In the US, the Reagan Democrats' children have come of age, and their parents' dream, has been shown to be, a pipedream, without any real substance.
ReplyDelete