Once More by the Potomac
Here is a Jolly Food Fellow,
he's painted the White House yellow.
Here are the Mighty Generals,
bemedaled for fighting memories.
Here are the Hallowed Offices,
groggy with foggy prophecies.
Here are the Strategic Centers,
filled with their caviar emptors.
Here is our Congress, scrupulous
in making their marbles the cupola's.
And here are We, the People;
each one a moral cripple
Or athlete, well trained in frowning
on someone else's drowning.
[1995]