United States of Weeds

Tossing and turning
I slept with uncertainty..

Awoke in a cold sweat
awash in anxiety..

At the end of that black night
the morning arrived right on time..

But instead of bringing
much needed light
the dawn revealed 
a deeper depth of darkness..

All previous illumination devices
in our house so badly divided
were cracked and beyond repair..

We collectively cursed
the new reality nightmare..

This perpetual storm
would now be the new norm
as unpleasant truth we long ignored
knocked down our denial door..

The somber dirge of our dissolution
would be a familiar tragic refrain..

The false sense of security
in a decaying foundation
of once mighty institutions
we stubbornly believed in..

No match for the withering weeds
that suffocates misplaced trust
cause in the end
there were more of them
than there were of us