Poets have a duty
As this poets often said
To see the world around them
From inside anothers head
To question all assumptions
And to challenge every truth
Which helps us do that duty
Which, you know, is saying sooth
And I attempt each Friday
At the close of Hillsdales hour
To practice my vocation
Which is speaking sooth to power
I go for inspiration
Anywhere the headlines lead me
In hopes the proud and powerful
Will hearken to and heed me
So I embraced this challenge
To the point I thought Id lose it
To see the present crisis
As the State Department views it
I put on brand new glasses
Ill admit are kinda pretty
And traded in my horror
For some empathy and pity
And with these lovely lenses
The results were very thrilling
There wasnt any terror
And I couldnt see the killing
I only saw conditions
Nasty unemployment seeded
And came to the conclusion
That a stimulus was needed
And thats what theyve been teaching
In their Global Studies classes
And thats the way they see it
Through the State Departments glasses
But since the world around us
Wont conform to that description
Id go to an optometrist
And get a new prescription
I say this quite reluctantly
And I say it with all charity
Theres some kinds of absurdity
Its not possible to parody