by Alex Cameron
To compromise a moral
takes nothing that’s immoral,
if only from whatever side you’re on.
Each issue that is urgent
has always a divergent
counterpoint to base your logic on.
And even if you’re lacking
in crucial public backing,
there’s one sure way to save you from a fall:
start dealing out the Bibles
and tug at their moral fibers –
by whipping out your family values card.
If the polls are badly dragging
and Creationism’s flagging,
cause the dems have cornered you on evolution –
then stop inviting degradation
and start crying accusations
and declare it an affront on institution.
If gay folks are getting married
while your term has hari-karied
and the public eye is frowning on your war –
then get out there and proclaim
an anti-lesbian campaign,
and the voters will forget about before.
If the news cycle is turning
and you’re really not quite yearning
to have the press find out about your ways
then declare a war concerning
the pandemic of flag-burning
after all, who needs those rights today?
And while you’re waiting for compliance
why not up and accuse science
of immoral and unprincipled experiments:
they might just cure a virus
but there’s something more desirous:
that’s preventing you from contracting bad press.
And when the task is done
you will find that you have won
and have four more years to rest upon your laurels.
All the folks that safely floated you
by having conscience-voted you
have put you in your office based on morals.
But when the time has dawned
for you to choose the right from wrong
you will wantonly elect to go to war –
and when parents look to protect
their darling kids from unsafe sex,
they will have no children left to look out for.
Alex Cameron is a junior at Chatham High School in Chatham, NJ, who is managing editor of the school paper and contributing editor of the school literary magazine. His writing has been published before in The New Verse News, and is forthcoming in A Long Story Short.