My Resignation

I tried to move the needle,
to march, make signs and tweet.
I tried to make them hear us,
with spiced eyes in the street.

I tried to fill the ballot box
to canvass, call and vote
but the money washed me over
and the swell poured down my throat.

I tried to move abroad
to find a new world order
but I couldn’t shake the spectre
for carbon knows no border.

So home I came a patriot
with love of nature and nation
to raise my voice again
to pursue some righteous vocation.

To fight the money, fight the greed
to shift these rising tides
but righteous work could not be found
in the pages of classifieds.

So I went to the wilderness
with necessity on my back
to a fortress little changed
by industrial attack.

And there I lived alone
fetching water and sticks
catching fish and game,
free from politics.

And then one day a herder
brought his goats over the pass
and I walked down to meet him
in the meadow of tall grass.

I explained my resignation
as the flock around us grazed,
that I felt I had no choice
and he stared at me amazed.

“Come down from this mountain,
the revolution’s begun.
Haven’t you heard the news yet?
Bernie Sanders won.”