The hatchet fits you
Mr. President
But not the cherry
tree legend---
Not truth telling.
No rational parent
would want their child
to grow up like you
You’re the poster child
for a child’s “must-not-dos.”
If your father
had asked you
What happened to his
favorite cherry tree
Would you have said:
"I can’t tell a lie, you know
I can’t tell a lie, I’m sorry
but I cut it down.”
Of course you wouldn’t have.
You’d have said:
"It was the brown kid
who just moved in
down the street.
You’ve got to believe me.”
Lies beget lies
beget lies
beget more lies.
Mr. President, "Honest Abe"
first got his nickname
as a young store clerk
He short-changed a customer
by a few pennies.
So he closed down
his shop
And walked long
and far to return
the correct change.
What would you have done?
You’d have kept the change.
You chose the crooked
coward’s corrupt, lying
path a long time ago,
And that has made all the difference.
© Gil Hoy
Gil Hoy
Gil is a Boston poet and trial lawyer who is studying poetry at Boston University through its Evergreen program. Hoy received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Boston University, an M.A. in Government from Georgetown University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served as a Brookline, Massachusetts Selectman for four terms. Hoy’s poetry has appeared, most recently, in Ariel Chart, The Penmen Review, Right Hand Pointing/One Sentence Poems, The New Verse News and Clark Street Review.
Gil is a Boston poet and trial lawyer who is studying poetry at Boston University through its Evergreen program. Hoy received a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Boston University, an M.A. in Government from Georgetown University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served as a Brookline, Massachusetts Selectman for four terms. Hoy’s poetry has appeared, most recently, in Ariel Chart, The Penmen Review, Right Hand Pointing/One Sentence Poems, The New Verse News and Clark Street Review.
