The Ballad of Bowling Green – Poetry

THE BALLAD OF BOWLING GREEN

by C. Mascott

Listen dear friends and you shall hear
of the lies that are whispered in your ears
on the second of February, twenty seventeen
nothing was heard, nothing was seen
‘cept the ballad of Bowling Green

with flickering light
the spinster told
of evil awakened like tales of old
bringing monsters to life with the fears people hold
when nothing was what was seen
at the mythical Bowling Green

they will come for your weapons
they will come for your wives
they will eat your small children
and ruin your lives
they will kill all your gods
said the tv screen
of the devils at Bowling Green

You know the rest,
from the papers you’ve read
and now can see with lowered head
as we honor the loss of what’s truly dead
though no actual life was lost that day
the thing for which we need to pray
is the death of truth and what fact should mean
massacred by the silence of Bowling Green

I sound alarm my dearest friends
before our reason meets it’s end
cry defiance, don’t eat their fear
be a voice in the darkness for all that’s dear
In this hour of weakness, peril and need,
if we keep truth alive we can fight all the greed
that seeks to destroy what reality means
by feeding us lies like Bowling Green