An Open Letter To the Young

I must apologize to you,

for us leaving

such a mess on our watch.

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I didn’t see it coming.

I didn’t think the Constitution

could be so easily shunted aside,

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dismantled at the whim

of a modern-day Nero,

the useful idiot for which

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our adversaries long prayed.

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I didn’t think the politics of division

would be so easily consumed,

like the corrosive game in that

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Star Trek TNG episode, rotting the mind

from the inside out, numbing our empathy,

while the men hiding in the shadows

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all these years finally make their appearance,

saying the quiet parts out loud now,

waving their plans out in the open.

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We did what we could, me and mine.

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I can say I took care of my side of the street,

marching, voting, contributing time and treasure,

but the corporate villainy, the rantings of this

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malignant narcissist-in-charge were too much

to overcome.

I have lost many friends in these battles.

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The road drops here, my children.

This is how an empire fades, how

a republic crumbles before our very eyes.

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The fate of the world now lies with you.

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You, born to the mechanics of the

technology now corrupted and being

used against us.

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You, taught the principles of a

regulated nervous system,

who’ve grown up dealing with the anxiety

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of active shooter drills and standardized testing,

who’ve watched schools become battlegrounds

from the inside out.

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It will be you who save us.

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Old poets like me will carry on,

doing what we can do,

but there is less road before us

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than there is behind, and our ends

grow ever closer. Our lions fade into

nothingness, one by one.

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I wish I could take this burden

from you, my loves, but this

shall be your cross to bear.

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I can only pray you shall prevail.