you believed

how does it feel to have been a
believer?
after all, you voted for mr. hope &
change, after rallying behind him,
after believing that he would be
different than all the others, after
seeing his wondrous smile, after
getting butterflies in your stomach
when he came near, when you saw
him speak in front of tens of
thousands, when you drove such a
long way to listen to him, after you
went door to door for him, after
you recited his sayings with your
pals, after denouncing every other
corporate whore who ever ran for
anything &
yes, now
you want
to curl up
in a little
ball &
whine yourself
to sleep,
don’t you.

remember when you said to us
who gave up on this disgusting,
exploitative, greedy, cancerous,
debilitating, broken & futile
system years & years ago,
that we were all pessimists,
insane radical thinkers who
only wanted anarchy in the
deepest of our hearts?

remember when you told us that
you could change the system from
within & that the idea is to never
forget what the forefathers said
(who owned slaves, who would not
let anyone who wasn’t rich/white/male
vote, who delighted in murdering
the native population of this
empire, etc., etc.),
that giving up hope & not voting
gave us all
no right to complain?

remember that?

do you want another tissue to wipe
those tears, little one?

those of us who have had foresight
from the beginning,
remember---
those of us who know that if
something is broken,
fixing it is no longer an option,
remember---
so
when
will you
STOP
believing?