The Butterfly Book

American Elegy

Fallen is she this fateful day,

Fallen, America, the great, free dame,

We mourn our country, wipe our tears

Forget that ruin was coming for years.

 

We miss the forest for the trees

We strain up a gnat and swallow a flea

We love the ease of corruption

Institute those who revel in destruction.

 

Fallen is she this fateful day,

Fallen, America, the great, free dame,

We mourn our country, wipe our tears

Forget that ruin was coming for years.

 

Let the memory be singed, burned

In our minds, since we never seem to learn,

There was rottenness in our core

Mold that we turned a blind eye to before.

 

Fallen is she this fateful day,

Fallen, America, the great, free dame,

We mourn our country, wipe our tears

Forget that ruin was coming for years.

 

"Weep and mourn, our once-great nation,"

Though our land isn't a one-time patient

We worship money, sex, power

Pretend it's not a crumbling tower.

 

Fallen is she this fateful day,

Fallen, America, the great, free dame,

We mourn our country, wipe our tears

Forget that ruin was coming for years.

 

I mourn our façade, splendid ruse

Recently I truly thought to peruse

Long-held heart of ruined people

The truth of the American eagle.

 

Fallen is she this fateful day,

Fallen, America, the great, free dame,

We mourn our country, wipe our tears

Forget that ruin was coming for years.

 

I cry for our people – hurt, blind

Trying to quell their deep aching with lies

But freedom cannot come through law

And pain can't be numbed – sorrow this raw.