9426. HERETOFORE THE STANDARD

HERETOFORE THE STANDARD

To all things come deliverance; one way

or the other. life-line, below-deck, FedEx

or UPS. Sanctuary and far beneath the

meaning we think. Angels on heads of

pins do dance. 

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I speak these words, known as a malingerer

and a scamp. I always mix things up : was it,

for instance, Eliza Doolittle or Emma Lazarus

who said 'I lift my Lamp to Freedom,' or

something near to that? You know. That

'Colossus' thing in the harbor we sing.

-

Your tired, your hungry, your poor.

Or was that, 'You're tired? You're hungry?

You're poor? So what do you want from me?

Get away before I close the door.'

-

Hey, man, there's no escaping freedom.

The butterfly sings with the bee, and the lamb

goes along to slaughter. The way all things

should be. No second acts in American lives;

or there shouldn't be, because to have a second,

you most certainly need a first. Heretofore the

standard went that way, though maybe

now it's changing (but for the worse)?