When right-wing zealots take control and change the living here,
in bonfires roasting unfit souls with smoke that never clears,
to forgo the auto-da-fe I’m sure will be required,
where can a person choose to move and still remain inspired?
Some place where there’s still rule of law, dividing church and state,
without a bloody history or spineless legislate;
where there is culture, and some sense of personal dignity;
where healthcare is informed, supplied, holistic and sanitary.
Some place that doesn’t want to be a member of G8,
that doesn’t stand a chance to share a superpower’s fate;
where military spending isn’t more than art, or schools,
and where technology is not the end, but means and tool.
Where nature is important, and where reading is still done,
and entertainment does not mean six kinds of VH1;
where extremists of any kind are not staging a coup,
and perhaps things could be improved, but in the main, they’ll do.
An anti-theocratic place, where tolerance is taught,
and peaceful ways to solve dilemmas at all costs are sought;
where freedom of religion means freedom from such things, too,
and how another leads their life has no bearing on you.
Of course, the weather must be good, and winter’s not too cold;
because I like the beach and summer now that I’m grown old.
Fruit that’s fresh, and leafy greens from gardens close to home,
good food, good wine, good bread either in public or alone.
And property — the right to own it, at a modest price;
these things are the essentials. But some others would be nice:
like making sure America remains the kind of land
where flags are fire-proofed, not by law, but by for what they stand.
19 JUL 2005
