Deliberating Liberty

I brought Liberty her

last supper in the

dark alleyway behind

play-pretend democracy

Watching genius notes

of music fly briefly from

youthful mouths

(for the thousandth time)

She extinguished

like a star in the

ashtray of

            forgotten gods

Her untamed

      unadulterated

honesty built harmnoy

with bricks of calamity

Her perspiration’s evaporation

Smelled like an old dollar bill

that’s been in one

too many pockets

Of course she’ll

rise from the ashes

and all that jazz,

But watching

liberty murdered by

the guns held by

the children lied to by

the society shaped by

innocent sweat and blood

Much more tragic

than tabloids.