Rove chokes up on final day at White House. --CNN.com headline, 31 August 2007
Discreetly standing to one side
A cherub sizes up the scene
Like Satan viewing Paradise.
He lifts his fine-carved bow unseen
And carefully draws back the string.
With baby-blue tied round his neck
To complement his steely eyes,
And with method jovially opaque,
He smiles and sways to mesmerize
Believers who deny the snake.
In soft pink flesh his reptile part,
Unseen by mortals, shoots the dart —
Then lightening-quick re-coils to hurl
In rapid sequence bile-tipped smears,
Wildfiery whispers kindling fears,
And epithets to burn the ears.
The slurs drawn from his arsenal
Incriminate or just suggest,
Delivered with cherubic smile —
“Immoral,” “traitor,” “atheist,”
And “homosexual pedophile” —
Bring down his quarry to provide
For hunger never satisfied.
He rested then and planned his next attack
But thought he heard, as he was settling back,
An investigative sleuthing sound
Toward where the gentle media kept him hid,
A clouded land most consciences forbid.
Instinctively he turned around,
To ask his legal counsel for advice:
A friend at court could kill, thought Babyface,
Indictments that are overdue.
“What crime?” “A little mischief!” “Wit, at play!”
In mists of pleasantries, he slunk away
As he declined an interview.
The ordered rule of Mount Olympus
Was breaking down, until at last
Affronted Principles took notice:
“That little god is going somewhere fast.”
His charioteer, whose name is Avarice,
Charged and contemptuously galloped past
Who watched him driving toward the precipice.
Nancy Hansen has been a professional artist for decades and have been studying poetry for the last 5 years. Her anti-war play Glory Glory was produced in 2000 at the Providence Atheneum and a new version with musical arrangements is now under consideration.