Bob McCarty Writes

Almost a year ago, I received permission from Merry Roloff, a 50-something aspiring writer who lives near Denver, to publish a poem she had written about the prospect of Barack Obama becoming president of the United States.  Today, I offer the words of that poem again as something upon which my fellow Americans might want to reflect:

The devil is quite near…

And though I watch around me, with wondrous eyes of awe
As the masses are quite mesmerized, by this devil in disguise
He speaks of change and sharing, his shape it shifts to please
And the masses they’re believing, on this hoary tongue of lies

He speaks of all the things he’ll do, of the dragons he will slay
And the spreading of the booty, to the masses he does tell
His opponent is a temperate man, whose heart is full with love
For a country held in turmoil, a place he knows quite well

But the masses are quite mesmerized, by this devil in disguise
As he speaks of better things to come, for the loved ones of us all
So I ask my friends and countrymen, please keep and open ear
And keep an open view on things, for the moment is quite near

I ask my friends and neighbors, who may be a slight naive
To take a second look around, and see what lurks beyond
For the devil tends to shift his shape, to please the eye of all
And he speaks his words to please the ear, and appeals to where we ache

So take another look my friends, and try to see the truth
And try to see the view beyond, the better days to come
For all we ever want and need, is within our grasp quite soon
If only through the fog we saw, the harvester of lies, the devil in disguise

He bears a name from lands afar, and his past is cloaked from all
His lineage of land not sure, a twisted past he wears
So please, I beg, I plead my case… please take another look
at this devil who has promised all, the fortune that they seek

Is this really what you seek my friends?
This sprite whose set the hook? For bait, is what he has laid out and the school has seen the fare
And the school he has now netted
Is fully unaware.

Thanks again, Merry!

Note:  The first time I published the poem above, I published it here.