I started this poem back in late 2001, when I felt like the only person who thought things were going wrong. It's based on Oliver Wendell Holmes poem 'Old Ironsides' the nickname for the frigate USS Constitution.
I can only hope that Oliver Wendell Holmes would have written this today. It is not a mockery of his words, but rather a protest against those who have made a mockery of the United States Constitution and the USS Constitution that proudly and courageously fought to defend her namesake.
Old Constitution
Ay, tear the tattered vision down
Long has it waved on high,
Serving people living free
Who had courage to fight
Beneath it's flag the battle shout
And victorious cannon's roar
Brought freedom to the long oppressed
But freedom rings no more.
It's paper writ with heroes hand
Defended 'gainst all foes
Now lies a parchment memory
In those who cared of old
No more the treasured words will ring
From "We the People" free
The selfish and the greedy struck
And ripped apart the dream
Oh, better that the shredded text
Should burn in final pyre
Than fade to bleak obscurity
'Mid charlatans and liars
Fly one last time that holy flag
Of stars and thirteen stripes
And let the Constitution burn
To illuminate the night