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.
