AN
INSPIRED DREAM
Not so long ago, a young man dreamed,
He dreamed he saw a government,
A government of men.
One subject to those governed,
This government for men.
Free and democratic, in the wisdom,
By the nature, of the men.
He gained support,
His dream became the dream of many men.
Until there came a man to say,
"But man is clay!"
We need the metal, the soundness,
Of the law and of the coin.
Two dreams were joined,
A nation they became!
Ah! the iron and the clay.
Divided, balanced, welded or joined,
It prospered, it governed, it grew
With girded loin.
It grimaced and shuddered and was respected,
For its wisdom and its power and its
coin.
It grew!
An entity, unmatched, unfettered, untamed.
In war it was victorious,
Its majesty was glorious!
Who could stand against it,
With its marvelous, maudlin magic?
Its utterances inspired!
"ONE NATION UNDER GOD, it said.
"A WAR TO END ALL WARS." It grew.
So bountiful its harvest,
Bread
basket of the world, and then;
Oh, then.
In one day, it fell!
Its coin collected,
Its produce ceased from market place.
How could all this be?
Its citizens, they waxed impatiently.
Then someone stood and said,
"The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself."
"A LIE."
Too much! Too much! We have too much.
Our coin is heavy, it has brought us low.
We'll lighten up our burden, we will create a flow.
Waste our precious bounty, to spur insatiable demand,
To spur an insatiable demand!
Then Rasputin staggered back!
Buoyed by paper notes abound.
Heed not the ones who say, "unsound!"
Heed not the ones who say, "unsound!"
Growth not known since man sustained,
Sustained by fruitage of the ground.
Up by waves of war!
Fire from on high did pour,
And all the earth did hear its roar!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The victory day!
It grew so mighty, so proud, so high.
So high it reached a heavenly hand.
The moon! The flight was manned!
To the moon a flight was manned!
Praise the power of the air!
Fire, fury and air.
No height, to high for thee?
Oh, upward growth economy!
Inflate! Increase! Intoxicate!
Befoul! Defile! Burn
up the air?
MY GOD!
Have we reached the point,
This final point of history?
This nation cannot die.
It was built upon a solid rock.
Two dreams and then a lie!
TWO DREAMS AND THEN A LIE!
YeriYah benAbba
(George Baldus 1980)