When we wake puking shame
at last, and know the dream
for sham, embraced en masse...
When bells that rang victorious
hang mute, their tarnished claims
ignored in disrepute, and
bitter sons, having been all they
could be, can't wish back innocence
or the leg below the knee...
(This brash regime's trimmed reason
from its ranks, its black guard
in the street, protecting flanks.)
...then will we heed the schemers'
gloating leer? "There's no future
for any of you here."
Row on row, with hand
in trembling hand, it's come to this.
WE DREAMERS NEED TO STAND!
G. Karl Marcus is a 53-year-old poet and stone mason, who lives and makes art in western Montana. As a journalism major at the University of Montana, Missoula, he studied poetry writing with Madeline Defrees and Richard Hugo, in the early '70's. He has two draft-age children, loves his country and fears his government. He can be reached at gkm@nativerock.com.
at last, and know the dream
for sham, embraced en masse...
When bells that rang victorious
hang mute, their tarnished claims
ignored in disrepute, and
bitter sons, having been all they
could be, can't wish back innocence
or the leg below the knee...
(This brash regime's trimmed reason
from its ranks, its black guard
in the street, protecting flanks.)
...then will we heed the schemers'
gloating leer? "There's no future
for any of you here."
Row on row, with hand
in trembling hand, it's come to this.
WE DREAMERS NEED TO STAND!
G. Karl Marcus is a 53-year-old poet and stone mason, who lives and makes art in western Montana. As a journalism major at the University of Montana, Missoula, he studied poetry writing with Madeline Defrees and Richard Hugo, in the early '70's. He has two draft-age children, loves his country and fears his government. He can be reached at gkm@nativerock.com.
