I saw the best of their generation enveloped 

In the blaze of their heat 
In the passion of their words, 
In the rhetoric of their demagogues 

I see in every tragedy a struggle for power
Instead of mourning the elementary
They make him infamous 
I see the scale, the golden mean
Between security and liberty tipping over
Instead of protecting the innocent 
They disarm the deserving
As if that can stop the insanity
As if that can prevent them from going crazy 
I see, in my nightmares, 
How an average day transforms from 
a friend helping me with homework
From having a pencil in her hand, to something else in her hand
And I close my eyes in anticipation that I will never open them again.
And I feel the cool black roundness imprinting on my forehead
And I cry for those who have died, but more for those who have experienced it and lived.  
And I see in my friends a fake sort of eyesA glazed sort of naivity
It’s all so far away, yet it is far too close. 
I see a hardening towards the world 
A distrust mounting that scares me 
Into wondering how this will affect them in the future
How we will be in the future 
For I see them taking over their generation
I see fear itself stripping us of our liberties
I see the white house stretching its roots and digging its fingernails into our lives
I listen as he scapegoats the homosexual for his own divorce 
and the nonCatholic for her own sins. 
I see something else taking over my generation 
I see the disillusionment, the apathy
As more and more of them let themselves go 
And turn to the type of painkillers that are hidden to the elders.  
I watch as their generation turns a blind eye to the world around us
To focus instead on numbers and programs
Focus instead on how to make the top two percent 
Work for all the rest of the percent
While the animals wretch and gag, and the snow turns black
They talk about the sequesters and the partisans
While the trees give way to tall grey buildings
They ponder on about whether a woman has the right to her own body. 
And I watch as kids rot in their parent’s poverty because 
there are so many better things to do with government money
Like pay farmers not to farm 
Instead of teach our young how to live.