Friday, May 31, 2019

day EIGHT HUNDRED and SIXTY TWO


Don’t Give Up on Us, Baby: A Letter to Europe


"Don't give up on us, baby.
Lord knows we've come this far."
Think of it, almost 250 years.
Ever since dandy Lafayette
came to us, and dowdy Ben Franklin went to you.
Remember, my French students,
when you showed me Chandler in a box,
learning what friendship means?
We're in the box. Two years of this calamity.
Don’t nail the coffin on our amity.

"Don't give up on us, baby.
We're still worth one more try."
Remember when we watched George Bailey deciding
between his trip round the world
and saving the family business and the town?
And you murmured, “Ah, oui, le dilemme cornélien”?
We took the wrong fork in the Cornelian dilemma,
sacrificing others and losing ourselves.
We’re in the slum of Potterville now.
Pray for us, like George’s neighbors, family, wife,
so we can awake to our real, our wonderful life.

Listen to this silly song by Soul,
an Anglo-American one-hit wonder.
Watch Stephen Colbert joining forces
with John Oliver, Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee.
Remember the time we watched Gene Kelly
singing in the rain, and you said,
“This song tells us that love is waterproof”?
Stand by us, your soggy American cousins. Be true.
"Don't give up on us, I know
we can still come through."


--Cheryl Caesar

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