An Elegy for Liberty
"It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad."
- James Madison -
This is my first elegy.
All too often these days, I mourn the loss of my childhood dreams and expectations, many of which were based on the specious notion—so oft repeated in the schools of my childhood—that I lived in "a free country."
To my great sorrow,
I have since learned how untrue that is.
An Elegy for Liberty
Image courtesy of Luke Stackpoole and http://unsplash.com
~An Elegy for Liberty~
by Duncan Cary Palmer
While headed for the boneyard
To sit and mourn a while,
I took thought to remark my world
So changed from when a child!
Signs announcing strictures
Oppress like some disease.
The stench of propaganda
Is wafted on the breeze.
War on this and war on that,
Designed to terrify,
Curdle all volition
Until none dare ask why.
Chartered "To Protect and Serve,"
A citizen's best friend,
"Law Enforcement" now the beat
The task, to apprehend.
Choose between a leafy weed
Or thousand dollar pill?
Procure a shaman's signature;
Bend to the tyrant's will.
Purple mountains, amber grain,
The dirge eclipses truth
While legislators' pens bleed laws
To fetter us forsooth.
Ivory tower geniuses
Wield complex arguments.
Obscurantists with PhDs
Befuddle with intent.
"Quantitative easing."
"Your fair share," "Do your part."
Talking heads have turned deception
Into a high art.
Call them not "sheep," that noble beast
Whose name should not belong
To whom from puppet media
Receive their Weltanschauung
Zombie ignoramuses
Demand our guns and bread,
Incognizant their excesses
Our revenue have bled.
Who then slaughtered Liberty
As Jacob by Esau?
'Tis you who venerate the State,
So red in tooth and claw.
Now that I've come upon the site
Of Liberty's last breath,
I'll sit here on the ground and tell
Sad stories of her death.
~FIN~
Who then slaughtered Liberty?
Image courtesy of Maarten van den Heuvel and http://unsplash.com
P.S. If you have an "in" with anybody at Steemit, Inc. - Would you please ask them to get rid of these damn, extremely annoying "off-website" arrow/boxes? The have, overnight, made Steemit ugly. There are much better solutions.
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You have countless other poetic lines that are exceptionally worded. It is one of your best poems. You also may consider the tag informationwar as they may respond to a post like this. Sad words but so true. I often say how Mayberry and all it stood for is gone. Blame goes to many for this. The media, the shadow government and others...but most of all ourselves for allowing it to happen. We were placed like a frog in the pot and now the water has relaxed our mussels so we cannot jump out... only to be cooked for dinner. Sad. They tried for years to take us over from the outside only to learn the way to change is taking over from within. So they did that with our universities, councils, media, arts and every avenue they could. Damn. It took them 100 years but they were patient. And now the water has come to a boil. Thanks @creatr. PS: RESTEEMED.
Thank you, Troy, for your comprehensive and very thoughtful response! :)
Yes, sad, but we must recognize what we have become, and push back.
Truly I agree @creatr Again thanks my friend.
Beautiful poem.. we are indeed here in America. We must keep fighting for liberty no matter what
Thank you.
My dream is that I see The Statue of Liberty one day
I do not know much about this ... but want to know
I hope you will be able to see it one day.
Just do not expect much freedom to be allowed by any human government! :(
Beautiful rendition with a sad but powerful message. It isn't over yet though, not as long as there's a continuous push for true liberty
Thank you kindly, Empress!
Yes, we shall keep pushing for liberty. :D
It's surprising to think that your poem is just as relevant today, as it was when people were still fighting for liberty against colonizers and foreign invaders. The only difference now is the people curtailing liberty have become smarter and cleverer in their propaganda. You said it yourself,
And sadly, they are working. They're succeeding. Actions, which a few years ago, wouldn't have passed as humane or acceptable now have flying banners under their "war on crime", "war on [insert something that rational people really want to curtail or stop]". But really, they're not waging a war on crime, or whatever. They're just using them to add some sense of legitimacy to their actions. I mean, I want crime to stop, but that's not what they're doing, is it?
The wars are wars on liberty, and upon us all who suffer the draconian measures all these "wars" call for.
I appreciate your thoughtful response to my article, Thank You!
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Your welcome. It was a powerful poem. I'll probably be reminded of it every time I watch the news.
the expedient and immediate have triumphed over humanity and decency - no longer a beacon but in some eyes a pariah on the world stage...so sad to see the undoing of a dream
A pariah indeed... and I am saddened at the jingoist attitude of all too many I know, in place of what I perceive ought to be a sorrowful repentance and dissociation from the evil, perpetrating forces behind the PTB.
What a deep poem, especially for the content of his words and the way you recreate yourself in a pain that in our sensitive conception we are all experiencing. We are in the era of Sodom and Gomorrah, the lost world, the lost cities without values, only the individualistic feeling of making riches. But the more profound this crisis is, the more we rejoice because the coming of the Lord Jesus is near. My affections @creatr.
Thank you, Yoselina, for reminding me of our great hope.
I look forward to the day you and I will meet face to face, perhaps in the Glory, and rejoicing together over the kindness of our LORD.
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Amwn friend! What beautiful words, what a beautiful hope we have
Yes I am afraid the symptoms, albeit small, were there from the start. Let us not forget it was not an a 100% consensus, but rather there were a good number that opposed leaving the crown. Seeming a majority have a default position of wanting rules and rulers, while only a minority can actually handle freedom.
The curse of the masses....
Took me most of a lifetime to understand the problem. Wish I knew how to solve it!
I know what you mean about the ugly offsite image markers... but mostly, those were a response the hundreds who fell prey to the scams of people asking for passwords, etc and then ended up being cleared up.
I suspect the witnesses and Steemit inc got tired of the complaints.
Hi, @bluefinstudios,
I completely understand the motivation...
What I strongly object to is the UGLY solution.
It would be much more cosmetic, and just as effective (if not more so) to bring up a dialog box warning that a user is about to "leave" Steemit. There is absolutely no need to visually burden every link with that stupid box...
And, riddle me this: WHY do links to Steemit hosted images also "feature" that ugly box?
Thanks for dropping in to comment! :D
Oh, not debating the ugliness.
I am an artist...
I simply understand the motivation.
But definitely not the implementation!
Very nice work here, @creatr. Thanks for sharing this with me.
Thanks, glad you liked it. :D