Will You?

On the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the USA

Will You

by Carey Lenehan

You said you could, made it your call,
chanted it from the rooftops, amplified it from the stage,
sang it from the library steps,
breathed it, dreamed it, voiced it, sent it to the world, pursued it
and now look,
you did it.
Just like you said you could.

But,
with all that is broken,
as you stand before your faithful,
reflected in the glitter of the tears on their cheeks,
returned a hero on the shimmer of their eyes,
I hear you say it again,
those three little words which mean so much to so many,
so promisingly declared,
and all I can do is wonder,
Yes, You Can,

but Will You?

Will you fix the ills that have long been done behind closed doors,
in our name, but not in our interest?
Will you wrest the wealth of the people
from the grubby hands of avarice,
free our stolen liberties,
crushed beneath the stamping dabs of Baal?

Will you wipe away the rusted corruption,
kick away the barricades between
Us and Them,
Will you banish the sneaking parasitic spies,
spinning their webs of mistrust
deep into the heart of society,
and give us back the freedom to live in privacy?
Can you do that?

Will you undo the sweeping insults
rendered to the contract of your nation,
those longstanding words
whispered in Patriotic hearts, and etched in history,
'We The People'... 'all men are created equal'...
and obliterate the addendum snuck in there so discreetly which goes....
...'all men are equal, although some, are more equal than others'...?

Will you right the wrongs of the suited sycophants
who have stolen your gold,
take back the power from the syndicated snakes
who have constricted all that is good and true,
so that they can profit and we can suffer?
Will you re-civilise the new barbarians
who have re-ransacked Rome?
Will you free the faraway peoples your predecessor enslaved
with  costly bombs and unjust values,
who demonstrate their despair with bloody roadside death and dusty tears,
and reassure the world that you are different
or will you be the same?

Will you speak the same empty words,
walk the same dappled line between interests,
pleasing everyone who can pay, betraying our trust,
dumbing us down  as if we were helpless children who
do not, will not, can not, understand
why you might need to change your promises?

Will you proffer patronising words,
hiding reality behind a smokescreen of double-speak,
because someone told you this is how it is done,
even though most of us know
there is a different story lying underneath?
Will you speak the truth or will you lie,
because, you can do that too,
can't you?

If I could, I would ask,
Are you  for real, Barack Obama,
or have we been fooled again
and how long will it be
before we know what we have done?

Yes, we can,
Yes You Did
The real question is

Will You?

Reviews

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

APPLAUSE! Your prose is full of voluminous questions, passionately written and straight from the heart. It's as if you are standing on a precipice, wanting to jump into the perfume of his promises, yet, hesitating, knowing full well the politician's proclivity for pomp and pageantry, empty promises and empty words.

Barack Hussein Obama has made history; and for that, I give applause. I hope he embraces the blessings and doesn't toss them to the wind like so many others do. History can be good or history can be bad. Let's hope his/ours is good.