A poem for Thanksgiving 2008: "Chores"

[sun zoom spark]

Here in the last week of November 2008
the leaves have fallen from the trees
time to get out the rake
and comb the lawn's long grass
the sky is blue and cold as marble
it's turning colder by degrees
but the chores still have to be done

Thanksgiving's almost here
the turning of a torturous year
that can hardly stand to watch
the eleven o'clock news
the faces cracked and blue as stone
say the country's sinking by degrees
but the bills still have to be paid

How can anyone who reads a paper
listens to a radio watches the news
endure what remains?
It's been eight long years
but these last two months before Inauguration
seem the longest of all
with change waiting in the wings

What happened to the twenty-first century
all its promise subtracted
by war and deceit
cover-ups and denials
an administration enamored of its own mistakes
willing to let the future wait
while they calculate the final bill

but not the cost of what remains
war debt encircling loss
dark despair in a cold month
How different it all will seem
in January 2009 on the Capitol's marble steps
to stand in the wind on a winter's day
and see the chores ahead to be done

11/24/2008