Poets have a duty

As this poet’s often said

To see the world around them

From inside another’s 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 Hillsdale’s 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 I’d lose it

To see the present crisis

As the State Department views it

 

I put on brand new glasses

I’ll 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 wasn’t any terror

And I couldn’t see the killing

 

I only saw conditions

Nasty unemployment seeded

And came to the conclusion

That a stimulus was needed

 

And that’s what they’ve been teaching

In their Global Studies classes

And that’s the way they see it

Through the State Department’s glasses

 

But since the world around us

Won’t conform to that description

I’d go to an optometrist

And get a new prescription

 

I say this quite reluctantly

And I say it with all charity

There’s some kinds of absurdity

It’s not possible to parody