Classic Poem

That two hundred and one years ago
our Fathers brought forth in Philadelphia,
between the collapse of the Past
and the void of the Future,
a new al-chemic of government
addressed to these questions: How
shall the best be preserved
and the worst survived? ... that they found
the Historian's stone and applied it,
coming up with a science of man, A Manual
of Practical Comity ...

That we see in it pride of race
and pride of conviction and pride
of power — a continent
for the taking; a war won —
but nevertheless the Law
above any man and his pride ...

It is there yet. " In America
we have no common race,
no common language,
no common religion.
We have only the Law. ... "

Thus Senator Mitchell (D., Maine)
to a public miscreant
in the year 1987.

Can the Law hold? —
When those sworn to uphold it
can " plausibly deny "
having had time to read it?
Can the Law hold
when every blood, culture and tongue
from all seven continents
clamors at it for parity?
Can the Law hold
when comity among men — even
all men — is no longer enough
and the world groans at us — seas
a sewer, the raindrops a curse? Gentlemen
of the City of Brotherly Love,
can the Law hold and not hold only
but broaden, a check and a balance
between such brothers as we are
and this nightmare trashing of the Earth?