The Fading Stars and Stripes

The vigor is gone from the Stars and Stripes.

What's happening is truly degrading.

The purity of the WHITE is sullied;

The RED and BLUE are slowly fading.

The sullying of the color WHITE,

Which stands for innocence, reveals

That we are slipping--that we are not

Holding true to our ideals.

 

Are we innocent if we

Ignore the years of hard-fought fights

For justice and equality

As we dismantle voting rights?

 

If RED means hardiness and courage

And the readiness to sacrifice,

What we're seeing happening now

Makes that meaning imprecise.

 

Too many people refuse to make

A sacrifice and throw a fit

When asked to do so to help protect

The lives of others, if even a bit.

 

If BLUE stands for vigilance,

Perseverance, and justice for all,

Then our approach to those areas

Needs a major overhaul.

 

Perseverance for many means

Believing conspiracy theories that make

Others wonder how truth can be

Such an easy thing to forsake.

 

Vigilance is also lacking

In many people who fail to see

That huge threats of attacks from our own

People are not hyperbole.

 

And BLUE for justice for all? Sadly,

That is something we can't declare yet.

Discrimination, selfishness,

And bigotry prove that we're not there yet.

 

By doing what's right, we must inject

More color into the current Old Glory.

If not, what we'll see will be

A sad end to America's story.

-by Bob B (8-5-21)