After Billy Collins’ “On Turning Ten”

The whole idea of it makes me feel
Like we must, we must fight, or we will
Need to endure
Something worse than
Nazi Germany, feudal religious overzealousness,
The Chicxulub asteroid, the end of an era.
Do we want to suffer the same fate as most of the dinosaurs,
A memory but not a reality?

No. We will be the birds.
Survivors of a long-dead realm.
It will be justice, law, everything we believe in,
That crumbles, like the dinosaurs.

You tell me that everything will work out in the end,
That it will all smooth out.
But it won’t.
It won’t calm down because
Even now, in our great United States,
Corruption and deceit loom.
If we do not make a stand, then we will fall
And all of those benefiting off us
Will crumble too.

And then what? Who will emerge from the rubble?
Will it be a renewed, improved, America?
Or will it be a dictatorship, supported by our enemies, or our enemies Themselves?
And, if it is in fact a better nation, how will they fare,
Their assets damaged, their enemies unharmed?

It won’t last, I say to myself.
Which is why we need to be ready.
Be ready for the worst.
And when it does happen,
It’s time to speak.
Time to speak out for what you believe in.

It seems like only yesterday I used to believe
That the world was eternally peaceful
That conflicts were a time of the past.
But now I see the truth,
Now I see that there will always be
Those who seek to end equality,
And the right to free speech.

Will we stand idly by
As these people destroy all we believe in,
The legacy of the Founding Fathers,
Of all those who fought
For freedom and equality??
No. I think not.