Tornado of Hope

What can a poet do in a tornado?
Cling to an ethereal tree
While the howling winds of an angry planet
Rip the words from their hearts?
From their lives?
A tree whose roots were planted
In lands where seeds have been grown for ages
In their hearts.
In their lives.
Lives lost in the Heartland.

No!

A poet climbs an ethereal tree!
Planting their feet on the roots of cohesion
Ascending on the branches of hope
To make tangible a crown of support
To bear witness!
As the flags of survival are instilled,
Red in a pool of brotherhood.
White in the care of love.
Blue in the protection of response.
Proudly writing the American song!

A poet descends a material tree.
Calming the maelstrom of fear
With words of truth and understanding
Yet cry a warning to the future....

The Earth knows not what it does
It can only be what it is.
What it has become.