Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

The November skies darken early
Citizens walk in
To vote
Nationwide elections
High school gym
Opened just for them
Voices echo in the large hall
Clerks check names and addresses
Pointing to names in musty ledgers
As lines get longer.

The ones I can spot
Are the old veterans
Who spent their youth at
D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, Guadalcanal
I say
Courage to them
Who knew how to be brave
At so young an age
They walk slowly now
Wives often leading
You sense that for them
Time is running out
The hour glass near empty
They never bragged all that much
To them voting is a right.

You can spot the others
Waiting on line
Veterans of
Korea and Viet-Nam
They walk a little faster
Stand a little taller
But time will catch up
And the hour glass will reach its mark.

The voting is over
Discarded papers litter the floor
Doors locked
Lights turned off
As darkness slips into the empty hall.

Across town
Politicians congratulate
The winners
Deal are made
Promises promised
And on this cold night
Honest taxpayers turn in bed
Knowing that the next workday
Always comes early.

classic poem indeed.

...and it's why I love election day....

I think many citizens appreciate the right to cast a vote in hope that things will be better for their children, grandchildren.......but so often the rhetoric outshines the promises, and the cynicism slowly tarnishes the freedom of the exercise..... interesting look at the veteran's part in all this...

Today is Armistice Day, the eleventh day today, the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the day that was set aside for my father's war. the war against the Germans I wish we would have stayed out of, the war to end wars, the war we should have been too proud to fight. Now we call Armistice Day veterans day, I guess that is a good thing,

Sorry my ramble has not much to do with election day. just got me thinking about
The war to make the world safe for democracy and Wall Street. and money and elections, and voting machines that don't leave a paper trail, Gangs of New York, Boss Tweed saying it is the counters who determine the count. in the meantime
Your poem is the best poem about veterans I expect to read today.

thank you very much