A Lady We Used to Know

The world shook under our feet that day...

A Lady We Used to Know


Columbia closes her eyes in grief and bows her head in shame;
Her leader has circled the wagons but shoots mostly at words on a page.

Columbia hides her face in remorse for refusing her cousins succor--
Compassion withheld for political gain, protector-provider no more.

Columbia bends and kneels at half staff for the towns of the broken and slain.
The newsmen feed well and we hear of the dead in numbers instead of in names.

She cries from her soul and weeps for us all, but has seen too much to pretend:
She knows that for all of her might and her love, her tears will be Trumped in the end.

Notes ▼

This was written after the Puerto Rico earthquakes in 2020, in response to the silence from the executive branch about them. My political bent is obvious here, but I respect everyone's believes and politics, even when they differ radically from mine.