TUGBOATS
The flag is torn.
The ship of state slips its mooring.
The sea is rough
whipped by winds of change,
the journey
unplanned.
Anxiety breeds like flies
on the dying carcass of democracy
and greed
continues to fill
the slaughterhouse
of capitalist desire.
The overloaded burdens
turn the captain grey before his time
and shudder the rudder
gripped
by his hands on the wheel
as the great ship moves forward.
The bobbing tugboats
common, small,
and defenseless are all
that stand between
success and failure
as they guide the ship to calmer, deeper seas.
It is the tugboats which protect democracy.
Not the sleek yachts.
Not the OIL tankers.
Not the cruise ships…
but the tugboats’ throaty whistles
and hardened hulls.
They work the harbors of the world
dressed down and
heads up
for sights and sounds of risk.
Then, set the path
to true freedom.
Only tugboats
can bring the ship of state, and us,
to safe harbor.
Those aboard the ship of state may wine and dine
the Great Pirates of the seven seas.
They would be wise
to recall
that the lowly tugboat
holds them
all
accountable.
annarino writes 