January 1, 2022, Problems

 

Will we preserve democracy

Or sink to white plutocracy,

And Protestant theocracy,

Forbidding all apostasy?

 

Will we embrace variety

Establish true equality,

And fertilize fraternity,

The truest paths to liberty?

 

We’re finding out that politics

And a pandemic do not mix.

Too many cross the River Styx,  (1)

A journey anti-vax predicts.

 

If we use immunology

And epidemiology,

Then we’ll control virology

Much better than theology.

 

When even Donald Trump admits

He’s vaxxed and boosted, some nitwits

Still will not take a jab and spritz,

Preferring when Trump just bullshits.

 

Will we preserve democracy

Or will this new year’s legacy

Descend into autocracy,

Fulfilling Trumpist fantasy?

 

It all depends on voting rights;

Provoking existential fights,

Which right or left belief ignites.

It’s up to us: the depths or heights?

 

• The River Styx, in Greek mythology, separated the living world from the underworld, where the dead went, carried by the boatman, Charon.