Sonnet Before the End of Days

November 5, 2016

All the things that matter trigger madness

In a nation gulping anxiety

As an addict guzzles against sadness,

Emptiness, and haunting mortality.

Will the sun rise? Will all the planets track

Their normal orbits on November nine?

Or will they wobble, travel out of whack

If the Evil One (whether yours or mine)

Receives the title President-elect?

Will these fault lines in our democracy

Heal with time, or prove, by their effect,

Our ruler now is named Insanity?

Let’s all take a breath, let our anger wilt

Lest we destroy all our ancestors built.