Can you still see,

Dawn breaking over the horizon?

Or are more visceral affairs

Clouding your vision

And affecting how you make decisions?

The broad stripes and bright stars

Appear dull and lifeless

Before cities of violence

And neighborhoods of poverty.

What then is America?

Is it the child we scold but never learns?

Is it the clothes we wear but will never change?

Could it perhaps be

A petunia

That, although being ignored,

Still waits and survives

On the thoughts

That it won’t have to fight any more wars.