THE AWESOME BURDEN

We brought you to this high office

Because we trusted you.

We believed in you enough

To want you to be our leader.

We wanted the world to change

And become something better

And more beautiful.

We thought you could do it.

We thought your shoulders were

Strong enough

And broad enough

To bear

This awesome burden.

And how have you rewarded our faith?

With the same lies

As nearly every other man

Who’s slept in your bed.

We can’t lean on your shoulders to cry on

When our children die fighting

The war you promised to end.

We wanted change

And all you gave us were two quarters

Because it’s all you really wanted us

To have.

The youngest of us look up to you

Wanting to be like you.

But you look down on them

As you do the rest of us.

All you are is an empty suit

Full of words

That you’ve broken like

Thin glass.

The house you live in

Was built by men with strong hearts

And words as strong as oak.

And their spirits, I would like to think,

Walk with you.

But you ignore them.

All you wanted was a power

You can never fully grasp.

I can’t see that whoever follows in

The tracks of your perfectly shined shoes

Would want anything more, either.

Someday, the Awesome Burden will be held

By someone who is equal to it.

I, and all who come after me,

Want to see that happen.