Surviving

We survived the Cold War, the arms race,

enough to wipe out both sides, us and them,

huddled under our desks, tucked into little balls,

scant protection for what we knew of war;

 

we survived Vietnam, mostly, the war brought

live into our living rooms in black and white,

the protests and folk songs decrying the war,

the man, the establishment, us against them,

the walkouts, the sit-ins, and the soldiers

returning home, disgraced, demonized, broken;

 

we survived 9/11, the towers falling, death

and destruction on US soil, downtown NYC,

arm in arm united against foreign aggression,

unfamiliar terrain and the bombs and blasts

tearing us apart, us – again – vs them –

 again - a new war, a forever war.

 

And now we wonder, afraid, them against us,

a new enemy, a people attacked fighting for their lives,

self-protection, fighting back, surviving an undeclared war,

one man and his image, his greed, power hungry,

driving us back into war, back into ruin,

a country, a people, a constitution, ignored.

 

But we will survive, we always do, rising up,

united again against this new foe, not a desert country,

but the men who would take us there, a formidable

enemy, for we face our own government, face ourselves,

our safety nets now torn and broken, we the people

divided, but this, too, we will survive, and perhaps,

just maybe, be made stronger in our persistence, surviving.