I walk through Carl Schurz Park
along the East River
on a warm winter day
that has the birds conflicted.
Some sparrows claim: ‘Spring is here’.
Others insist: ‘It’s still winter.’
I stop at the yak tree
and listen to the debate
that reminds me of Congress
though not as clamorous,
but stubbornly divided
and I can only wish
the bird brains would agree
and solve the problems
of birds and our nation.
The guy in the cell next door
keeps telling me that Allah
if I let him in my heart
will help me find peace.
He’s no cheap preacher
like I had growing up
and a decent, well-meaning guy,
weird to meet in prison,
but he just don’t understand
I’ve been bad too long
to become someone else.
I made a choice long ago
to live a life doing crime.
I’m doing time in prison
cause someone messed me up.
My girl will still be waiting,
my boys will still do business,
I’ll live the good live again.
If I go away a while
it’s not too much to pay
to get what some guys dream of.
When things go from bad to worse
what comes after worse?
It is burden enough
for the most hated nation
since the Roman Empire
to survive enemy countries,
but when we’re our own worst foes
it’s difficult to determine
how to preserve the future
of our innocent children
completely dependent
on unreliable adults.
I sit by my bedside
and look out the window
all day and part of the night.
It’s all I can do.
My few possessions on the bureau,
photos of a previous life
when I commanded armies
and men and women obeyed,
risked or gave their lives
in response to my orders.
I used to swagger
the corridors of power.
Presidents and Senators
listened to my advice.
But that was long ago.
Now I can’t even command
the aide who cleans my room.
I am forgotten.
I sit on the hard chair
as I painfully await
an obscure, ignored demise
that I would resolve today,
but I no longer have
my service weapon,
the only way an old soldier
can leave his last duty station
with a little dignity.
There be monsters
in our confused land
who abduct children,
sexually abuse,
torture, murder them,
our most precious resource,
citizens of tomorrow
who would build our future.
We are so deluded
we treat the criminals
who violate our children
as if they were humans
with the same rights
as decent citizens
with fair trials,
legal sentences.
And we are so blind
we fool ourselves
into wrong thinking
that life in prison
is just punishment
for horrific crimes
beyond the imagining
of moral people.
And our system is content
delivering judgment
to vicious brutes
who will have libraries,
medical services,
other amenities
for the rest of their lives
at public expense.
So after we discover
the inconceivable anguish
inflicted on our children
we reward the beasts with comforts
that a sane society
would never tolerate
that should eliminate
enemies of humanity.