Wednesday 4 July 2018

Liberty (July 4, 2018)

A false rumour
That's exist
Just beyond our grasp.


Where truths
Are stories
We don't want to
See or hear.


Lies become reality
We face
On a daily basis
In our lives.


Tweets and other means
President Trump spins
His gossamer web
Of half truths
And other explanations.


Justification
For his inhumane actions
In treating those
Seeking a better future
With slavery-like holding pens
Their reward.


Is the inscription
On the Statue of Liberty’s base
An outright lie
For the past 130 years?


Destroying the American mythos
Of the United States
Being a welcoming land
To the poor and desperate
Seeking refuge
From oppression.


Trump’s leadership
Open displayed tyranny
Of a third world dictatorship
With the blessings and trappings
Of a first world democracy
In the public view.


Marking his presidency
As the darkest years
Since World War II
For disregarding human rights
By future historians.


Forever tainting
The sacred ideals
We hold forth
In our description
Of liberty.

Therisa © 2018

Author’s note: Written for this week’s writing prompt of Lady Liberty, at Poets United.

22 comments:

Sherry Blue Sky said...

WOW, Therisa, this just NAILS it! Way to write! I applaud every word! I agree, we havent seen this since WWII, and I never thought we would see it in North America.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Sherry. I thought this poem had missed the target that Susan was asking for, with her prompt.

Gillena Cox said...

Therisa your dysopian dirge is stirring. Hope it can sing in the change your society needs so badly. Happy you dropped by my blog today

Much💞love

Old Egg said...

This one of your best pieces of writing Therisa. Great work!

Susan said...

I wonder if we ever lived up to those ideals. Each example / parallel you give is so well-chosen! The slave-like cages reminds me that's how the colonies and the United States started. Shame.

Sumana Roy said...

Every word of yours is the naked truth powerfully delivered.

Kim M. Russell said...

In a dictatorship, lies tend to become reality. You've summed Trump up so well in the lines:
'Tweets and other means
President Trump spins
His gossamer web
Of half truths
And other explanations'.
Trump doesn't have sufficent command of the English language or a long enough attention span to do more than tweet. Such a shame his term of office hasn't been tweet-sized.

rallentanda said...

If a crooked entrepreneur can become the president of the most powerful country on the planet then there is little hope for the future.

annell4 said...

These are dark times, indeed. Perhaps what we have been hiding, he has brought out in full view. A wonderful write.

Carrie Van Horn said...

You speak the truth beautifully Therisa!!

Therisa's World said...

Never thought, the day would come that the U.S. would be described like that, Gillena.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Robin, your kind and generous words for this poem.

Therisa's World said...

That was totally fluke about the slave cages, Susan. I didn't clue in to this, until you mentioned it.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Sumana. Sad part, I don't realize this, until others tell me.

Therisa's World said...

One can dream, Kim. Until then, the world has just bare with him, and hope the term ends in November 2020.

Therisa's World said...

But, without hope, there's no life. Trump's turn is coming. Just have to be patience.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, annell. I think you're right about the hidden nature being brought out.

Therisa's World said...

Carrie, there are times, I wish I was wrong.

kaykuala said...

Forever tainting
The sacred ideals
We hold forth
In our description
Of liberty.

Great closing Therisa! It sums up appropriately the feelings of many!

Hank

purplepeninportland.com said...

That last stanza really hits home!

Therisa's World said...

Thanks Hank. Am sort of blushing at your compliment.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Sara. Would you believe the last stanza was a throwaway stanza, I wrote to end this poem?

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