A Poem for Our Times
March 25, 2020
THE EAGLE TAKES FLIGHT
Harper Eliot,
March 25, 2020
Asheville, NC
The majestic bald eagle has taken flight
Chasing the fading sun
Beyond the bloody battlefields of mortal strife
When day is finally done.
Day is done!
Withdrawn from the beautiful Ridges Blue
Gone the sun!
As love keeps changing hue.
For Lady Liberty is alas dead
As we run for the exits
A nation strangled by creeping dread
Conducting our own Star Spangled brexit.
Our dear land of the free is no more
A Nation in name only
Orphans of ancient parchment paper lore
Home of only the lonely.
Living a phantasm of self deception
We seek to rule the world
As we fortify the walls of our prison
With so many lightning bolts hurled.
We are children of a perpetual war machine
I know not where to turn
As I sing my song to Jean Racine
Above the streets that burn.
‘Divine Savior I call out to thee
Can you save us from ourselves
Will your grace make hell flee?
While into our heart’s we delve.
You inflame the brush fires of my soul
With a love that encompasses the universe
Poet of the eternal logos of old
With which the angels converse.
To you Lord we will remain faithful
And will live your beautiful gospel
Even in these times most fateful
As the demons of gloom we dispel.’
What might happen on the morrow
Will we reap the whirlwind
Will we have to beg, steal or borrow
To pay for our earthly sins.
I must find the nearest gutter bar
Where I can drink my tears away
And toast the beauty of the morning star
That precedes the break of day.
A Star that introduces the first rays of the sun
Drying our bitter nighttime tears
Awakening all those park bench bums
Assuaging all our fears.
What is this virulent lie that threatens life
That now infects our entire globe
Whipping up the winds of strife
With tall tales that should never be told.
Can we ever go back through the looking glass
Return to our previous lies
To break the hysteria en mass
That now torments our very lives.
Will we survive this Manquake
Crushed between the vice of past and future
The present moment is our only escape
From our painful mortal sutures.
Say goodbye to our bald eagle friend
He was the soul of our blessed union
That we came to love and defend
E pluribus unum!
