I Was Just Wondering

I see all these people

shouting with hate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We’ve demonized immigrants,

locked children in crates,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We attacked your rights

because you aren’t straight,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We declared a religion 

we won’t tolerate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

Hate crimes have climbed

at an alarming rate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We left the Paris accord,

disbelieving our fate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

Too many students

keep losing classmates,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We ignore the homeless,

but the rich celebrate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We attack the free press

and their right to debate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

Women’s rights to 

their bodies evaporate,

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

We consider protestors

enemies of the state,

turning weapons 

on those who demonstrate,

using tear gas to ensure

equality cannot fumigate

and I was just wondering,

now are we great?

Not just great, but great again

and that has me wondering,

When?

The time of tribal extinction

or when we shackled our slaves?

When women couldn’t vote?

Oh those were the days

When we hid in our closets

from genuine fear?

When we were locked in prison

for just being queer?

When American citizens 

of Japanese descent

were held indefinitely 

in internment?

When we granted rights

based on the color of skin?

When “Segregation forever”

our governors grinned?

When Nazis marched openly

out on the street?

Something I never 

thought we’d repeat

Is it greatness now

and greatness then

that our government kills

with a fountain pen?

Is this greatness we see

as we look all over?

I guess greatness is in 

the eye of the beholder

25 Jun 2019 
(two stanzas added Jun 2020)

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