“Dark, dark, dark, scary, scary, scary.
You may not like me, but you do need me,”
hinting darkly at white supremacy.
Demagogues from Ancient Greece,
through history echo today,
yelling from podiums to lemmings’ glee.
“The loss of memory
by a nation is also a loss
of its conscience,” a poet did say.
Where, oh, where is Whitman
when you need him —
a poet of peace, love, progress and hope
in the midst of the dark Civil War?
Once again, ever and always
we need such a bright, shining star.