
<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://hellopoetry.com/poem/1788638/speaking-of-protest/" class="nocolor" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Book Antiqua", Palatino, serif; font-size: 22px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: rgb(34, 34, 34) !important;">SPEAKING OF PROTEST</a><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">by Gwen Davis-Feldman</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">We don’t get to pick our family </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Or the country in which we’re born</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Most families are quite imperfect</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">High praise will seldom adorn</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Our country acts as, in absence of,</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">A national family</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">We’ve come together as mighty fist</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">To overcome tragedy</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Just as you have complained about; </span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The faults of sister and brother;</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The arbitrary dad’s imperfect justice;</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The imperfectly care-worn mother</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">So it is with the family national</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Not every behavior good</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Complaints and suggestions are rational</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Don’t banish before understood</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">One’s right to protest what isn’t good</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">For the national family</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">A founding right that’s understood</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Wherever that protest be</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Some family members are not all good</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Most not prone to riot</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Some bring dirt to the nation’s house </span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">While others stay, clean, and quiet</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">If you demand “protestors leave”</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">You fail to understand</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">There’s no place to go but home</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">And clean the dirt that demands</span><br><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">National attention not just blind scorn </span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Your so self-righteous display</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">You can help with hearts reborn</span><br><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">To clean or get out of the way</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br></div>—————————————————<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/">http://www.moscowcares.com/</a></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>