A Poem For the Party of NO

[theHandpuppet]

The party that would deny food to the poor, medicine for the sick, a warm hearth for the weary, a smile for the stranger. The party of fear and judgment and contempt. This poem's for you. May you once again find the humanity and compassion in your soul that was, somewhere along the path of life, surrendered to bitterness. This poem's for you. An oldie but goodie.

WATCH YOURSELF GO BY

JUST STAND ASIDE and watch yourself go by;
Think of yourself as “he” instead of “I”.
Note, closely as in other men you note,
The bag-kneed trousers and the seedy coat.
Pick flaws, find fault, forget the man is you,
And try to make your estimate ring true.
Confront yourself and look you in the eye—
JUST STAND ASIDE and watch yourself go by.

Interpret all your motives just as though
You looked on one whose aims you did not know.
Let undisguised contempt surge through you when
You see you shrink, O commonest of men!
Despise your cowardice, condemn whate’er
You note a falseness in you anywhere.
Defend not one defect that shames your eye—
JUST STAND ASIDE and watch yourself go by.

AND THEN, with eyes unveiled to what you loathe,
To sins that with sweet charity you’d clothe,
Back to your self-walled tenement you’ll go
With tolerance for all who dwell below.
The fault of others then will dwarf and shrink,
Love’s chain grow stronger by one mighty link,
When you, with “he” as substitute for “I,”
Have stood aside and WATCHED YOURSELF GO BY.

-- Strickland Gillilan.

[mustardman]

1. Whatever it is, They're against it.

I don't know what they have to say,
It makes no difference anyway,
Whatever it is, I'm against it.
No matter what it is or who commenced it,
I'm against it.

Your proposition may be good,
But let's have one thing understood,
Whatever it is, I'm against it.
And even when you've changed it or condensed it,
I'm against it.

I'm opposed to it,
On general principle, I'm opposed to it.

{chorus} He's opposed to it.
In fact, indeed, that he's opposed to it!

For months before my son was born,
I used to yell from night to morn,
Whatever it is, I'm against it.
And I've kept yelling since I first commenced it,
I'm against it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMV44yoXZ0