Crisis in the Ukraine

After the world warmed

After Soviets faded into history

The Great White Bear of the North

Settled to her slumber.

The cubs left the den

Only one cub looked back.

Torn between its mother and new friends in the West

It growled and whimpered.

A Victor perched upon its head

Through deceitful means

Sparking the revolution of Orange.

When things settled the Victor urged the bear on.

“Go back,” the Victor said, “Mother’s calling.”

“Go back,” The Victor’s friends told him.

“Father Vlad is waiting.”

A Maidan sang her great distaste for the mother bear

Pulling the young cub Westward.

“We must move forward,” she said.

“To the West.”

The Victor did not like this.

Gathering the Easterners of the mother tongue

They pulled the cub by the fur

While the Maidan kicked and screamed

Into civil unrest

She occupied buildings

She rioted

She called for the Victor’s resignation.

When the Victor lost control

He fell from his lofty perch.

Hearing commotions next door

Mother Bear awoke.

She saw her cub being pulled East and West

Then she took away a toe

Then old Vlad sent her to cross her son's borders

To help the Victor’s side.

108. The Space Race

When the red haired man came to office
He gave us challenges.
He challenged the Soviets in Cuba.
He challenged his citizens.
He challenged us in a race to the moon.
Soviets started with Sputnik.
Then we started our own with animals and, finally, people.
We made great headway
The modules slowly developed
As Gemini became Apollo
The race continued onward.
Sprinting into the future.
Armstrong was selected for the mission.
The rockets blasted off.
They landed,
He stepped onto new soil.
One small step for man
And a giant leap
Into the future.
The flag was planted and footprints preserved.
The quietness of space was different
From the chaos at home.
May that chaos never disturb the silent peace of space.
Instead of shouting from the mountaintops like the sun wanted,
We quietly looked in awe at the fragile beauty of the earth.
Before the red-haired man’s dreams could come true,
A bullet from the books
Sent him away.