The End of Democracy - Poem

 

The End of Democracy


Will we see 
The end of democracy coming
The warning signs
Blowing through our lives
Like a cold winter breeze
Drifting the snow of democracy
Into drifts that drown us
In a sea of snowflakes
Dirty with the fighting
It takes to hold on to 
The freedoms we
Believe to be protected
As we go about our lives
Ignoring as each one erodes
Trusting those we put in power
To put people over power
Forgetting the addictive power
Of power
Convince ourselves
We can change courses
At our next reset
The reset we believe is always there
But what happens when
The new beginning promised
Erases all signs of our choice
Will we fight for our representation
Or will we turn on one another
Allow tyranny to erase every clue
To the past we hold up as sacred
To the tradition we swear matters
To the myth of what we never were
Will we fight to become a
Better democracy or give in to become
Ruled by the fear that gives power
To greed and leaves us all
Wishing for a world
We imagine but can’t quite create
Fighting isn’t always bloody
But it always takes us to an ending
That births a new beginning
For better or worse…




First appeared in my book, Democracy in Silhouette: Poems.


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T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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