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I threw this poem up a few hours ago, edited it, worked it a little bit, I think it's solid, though not as good as my Mothers Day Poem. It is intended as a tribute to Ronald Reagan, who, as some of you have surely heard, died earlier this week. It is greatly inspired by T.S. Elliot's 'The Hollow Men,' and even pays homage to it in the last stanza.
Without further introduction...
All of the Good Men have Died
-In Memory of Former President Ronald Reagan-
-
“Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor man's cottage door and at the palaces of kings.”
-Horace
All of the good men have died,
Heaven’s gates are still opened wide
As the rest of us try,
to be ‘till we die
Half the men, as those who have passed.
All of our leaders are gone,
All of our heroes moved on
And the rest of us aspire,
to maintain the fire
Lit by those far greater than us.
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.”
-Leonardo Da Vinci
But who will be in the future
A Lincoln, or even a Hoover?
Men who stood by their dreams,
A Man as Reagan has been.
Men who would not let others deter them.
“One of the greatest dangers, therefore, of democracy ... lies in the sinister interest of the holders of its power: it is the danger of class legislation; of government intended for the immediate benefit of the dominant class, to the lasting detriment of the whole.”
-John Stuart Mill
Now the darkness closes in,
Tyranny of the Majority’s no sin
When we have no men left in our ranks,
Who are singularly worthy of thanks
When we are left without heroes.
“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.”
-Publius Syrius
All of the Good men have died,
And I fear that I haven’t lied.
As the shadows creep in
You can hear a dropping pin
And chaos swells in the future.
Have all of the Good men died?
Is there left any pride
To be handed out, to the faithful and good?
Is there anyone left who will say that he stood?
Or may we consign ourselves, as well, to our graves?
Is this how the world ends?
Is this how the world ends?
Is this how the world ends?
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Without further introduction...
All of the Good Men have Died
-In Memory of Former President Ronald Reagan-
-
“Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor man's cottage door and at the palaces of kings.”
-Horace
All of the good men have died,
Heaven’s gates are still opened wide
As the rest of us try,
to be ‘till we die
Half the men, as those who have passed.
All of our leaders are gone,
All of our heroes moved on
And the rest of us aspire,
to maintain the fire
Lit by those far greater than us.
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.”
-Leonardo Da Vinci
But who will be in the future
A Lincoln, or even a Hoover?
Men who stood by their dreams,
A Man as Reagan has been.
Men who would not let others deter them.
“One of the greatest dangers, therefore, of democracy ... lies in the sinister interest of the holders of its power: it is the danger of class legislation; of government intended for the immediate benefit of the dominant class, to the lasting detriment of the whole.”
-John Stuart Mill
Now the darkness closes in,
Tyranny of the Majority’s no sin
When we have no men left in our ranks,
Who are singularly worthy of thanks
When we are left without heroes.
“As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.”
-Publius Syrius
All of the Good men have died,
And I fear that I haven’t lied.
As the shadows creep in
You can hear a dropping pin
And chaos swells in the future.
Have all of the Good men died?
Is there left any pride
To be handed out, to the faithful and good?
Is there anyone left who will say that he stood?
Or may we consign ourselves, as well, to our graves?
Is this how the world ends?
Is this how the world ends?
Is this how the world ends?
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
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