Striking is the contrast
Between my here and now
And what’s there beyond.
My study
With its sleeping dog
In a noiseless house,
The quiet reminders of other places
From muted traffic, faint voices, and barking
Trees rustled by the breeze.
All while
There was an insurrection at the Capitol
Assaulting the structures society has built
To preserve our democracy.
The attack, not from the outside,
But from within
Causing each one of us
To question the innocence of our beliefs
And undermining our sense of stability.
Thousands of troops now in D.C.,
Some still being vetted for extremism,
Protecting our nation from further violence
Lesser numbers in other Capitols
For the same reasons.
Not lost is the irony
That the pandemic has reached a record peak
Of contagion and death
While the politics rage with the possibility
Of further turmoil
It is against this background
That one can take pride
In the emergence of a new national leadership
That promises to address the sources of disruption
And to introduce changes
That will benefit our entire society,
A leadership that seems to combine serenity
With the determination and acuity
To act morally.
Aaltoe's Blog 
January 20, 2021 at 10:43 pm |
I love the way your poem bridges these last two weeks of exhausting experience, and today’s inauguration to me expressed the last stanza. And the memorial service last night as well. I think we have finally entered a new era, and left the chaotic insanity of the last president behind us.
January 21, 2021 at 12:29 pm |
I agree with Q. And further, that sense of the turmoil, and the beyond, so close and masked by the fragility of the systems that support our perhaps innocent beliefs. To have the calm of a dog by your side and the space to think is part of that fragile world. What a sense of renewal I feel today with the recognition of that fragility, and the commitment to strengthen what makes it possible.