L Milton Hankins | + Follow Poet |
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Time For Reckoning

Where have all our freedoms gone, I asked
As I watched them slowly eroding away,
Once in the warmth of liberty we basked
Probably wishful thinking they would stay
Seems a time for reckoning has come,
Did we abuse what once we prized so dear
God-given rights, marching to a different drum?
Choosing to live our lives in peace, not fear
Where patriotism was our love of country,
Not given to a frightful, credal nationalism
What have we come to in this 21st century?
Influenced as we are by rank sensationalism
Seems we espouse the right to be contrary,
Now even denying the realities of our history. 

Written June 27, 2022

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Caren Krutsinger Date: 7/3/2022 2:12:00 AM Pretty soon we will be taking the right to vote away from women. I cannot wait actually as my vote never counts anyway thanks to the danged Electoral College. Login to Reply L Milton Hankins Date: 7/3/2022 8:42:00 AM That's pretty much how I feel, living in Kentucky. Hey, Mitch McConnell has bought and paid for our two largest cities, so my vote doesn't count for much...but I'm gonna persist in casting it!

Rico Leffanta Date: 6/27/2022 6:59:00 PM Americans today do not live in a democracy (e.g.,, the news reports over 60% of Americans support choice/gun control, etc.) but under a government of the Party, by the Party, and for the Party, where even the basic right of going to a medical professional of one's choice is prohibited by law as is voting for anyone not approved by a political party! Keep explaining it! Aloha! Login to Reply Rico Leffanta Date: 6/28/2022 6:34:00 PM Let us hope enough women are enraged to vote them all out of office! Aloha! L Milton Hankins Date: 6/27/2022 7:47:00 PM I'm trying the best I can, Rico, but I doubt very seriously that anything I say will change the minds of those so determined! Those who lied their way onto the USSC will do whatever they want to do, I'm afraid, and our legislators don't care what we the people think!

Ilene Bauer Date: 6/27/2022 11:30:00 AM Milton - I am saddened, shocked and furious about what’s going on in our country. I have never felt more like I don’t belong here than I do today… Login to Reply L Milton Hankins Date: 6/27/2022 11:42:00 AM Not being a woman, Ilene, I cannot fully understand how women might feel. But, if I were, I would join an uprising for women's rights. What the USSC court is doing is simply intolerable. What next???

Jim Slaughter Date: 6/27/2022 11:17:00 AM Everything herein is relevant, L Milton...except for the phrase "God-given rights". None of the "rights" we have, or thought we had, were given by God. God was not in attendance when the Constitution was conceived and written. That is/was purely a man-made construct. Things have changed a lot since the 18th century. Sadly, governmental mentality has not managed to keep up with the times. I am glad, though, that even poets have opinions about these matters. Login to Reply L Milton Hankins Date: 6/27/2022 11:20:00 AM I certainly agree with the gist of your response to my poem, Jim. Most people, I believe, consider "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as a God-given right at birth. It's a commonly-held perception, and, who is to say that "God was not in attendance when the Constitution was conceived and written?" That, my friend, is a matter of opinion. Not mine, particularly, and not yours, but generally believed by folks who will read this poem. Thanks so much for your thoughtful and thought-provoking response to my poem.