Weakest Link

" … a chain is only as strong as its weakest link …"

In the harbor lies a ship, flags unfurled, proud,

formidable, and strong, thirty-five thousand tons held

fast at anchor against a storm raging, secured by iron links

linked one to another, one purpose, united to hold fast

the ship and keep free a nation always at war;

so, too, is that nation anchored, held fast against

a raging storm of itself, but its anchor cannot be held long,

its chains too weak, the links of families pulled too taut,

stretched too tightly, little left to hold them together,

and the nation, imperiled in a raging storm, is dashed

against the rocks of its own foundation, to perish in a sea

of discord, in the waters of humanity divided, adrift in the brokenness

of families torn apart by a nation always at war with itself.