Nixon's Ghost <br /> <br />I sit here trying to remember <br />the dream of America, <br />the dream of our forefathers, <br />and all I see is you, <br />walking the beach at San Clemente <br />in your shiny black tie-up shoes. <br /> <br />What happened? <br />Is this the dream of success, <br />to generate hideous disgrace <br />and still imagine one’s state to be <br />an embarrassment of riches? <br />Why haven’t you hung yourself <br />with your tie? <br /> <br />Because you never take it off? <br />Why don’t you die, Richard, die? <br />I know your will’s indomitable, <br />but what keeps you alive? <br />Belief in yourself? <br />I bet you’re plotting your return <br />right now. <br /> <br />For the life of me, <br />I can’t take a step, breathe a breath, <br />without you taking one too. <br />Unless, of course, I turn out the light. <br />Then we’re equals. <br />Shadows. <br /> <br />My faith in you grows and grows. <br />You never quit. I thought you <br />the toadstool that grew <br />in America’s shade, but now I see <br />that all the light in the world <br />doesn’t make you afraid. <br /> <br />You’re the dark image <br />of the sun, beholding to no one. <br />My respects to you, Richard, <br />you’re the weakest man I know. <br />You must have tapped the cool, <br />mysterious, winking power <br />that makes fireflies glow, <br />and glow, and glow.<br /><br />Percy Dovetonsils<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nixon-s-ghost/
