"I hear that train a'comin',
a'comin' down the tracks...."
I hear all the people wanting to get on board,
hear their passionate words at gatherings,
at the Lincoln Memorial, during newscasts.
I hear the man who wonders if civil war
will come again to the United States,
never so blatantly and impossibly divided.
How are we hurting and discouraged millions
ever going to get that social justice train
on the tracks and traveling towards
Martin's dream? We are long overdue.
This train is 50 years late,
its passengers never more imperilled,
never more out-shouted by
the extreme radical right.
Ugliness has never been so unmasked;
we see now, clearly,
and cannot look away.
I can hear the whistle
faintly blowing,
from many miles away.
I have my bags packed
to hop aboard, when it
finally comes my way.
It isn't enough any more to simply know, and write poems of protest. Time to write to elected officials everywhere, to march, to vote, to speak out. If that dream is ever going to be, it is going to take all of us. Had the Dems backed Bernie, I would have a lot more hope. Joe Biden is a decent man, but his voice is too quiet for what we are facing. The same old political formula will not work any longer. We needed Bernie's vision to find our way out of this mess. I hope he keeps fighting, though he must be so tired. My faint hopes hang on November's vote, fully expecting the rampant and blatant corruption to impact the vote. If we lose, we will lose big. Including our democracy.
I am also very concerned about what the impact of the US November election will be, upon our weary planet It is hard to look on, as a 'bystander' when, I sadly fear, the results are not nearly as predictable as we in Canada might think they will be ... given the character of that country's current leader. Really it's so hard to wrap your head around the current disrespect for truth and reality. Never in my life could I have imagined this place, we have come to.
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