Politician's Medicine How often have we heard That the responsibilities of State Invariably tie a good man’s hands And force him to forego The very principles he’s staked his reputation on . . . Luckily for him the gravity conferred By shouldering such burdens for the common weal At such great moral cost May take the sting out of Self-sacrifice But to anaesthetise the pain incurred The most effective remedy is Cash ________________________________________________________________________ Emanuel E. García, The Virtues of Calamity, One Hundred Poems, 2013 |