The Tool of Athens

“Nothing matters if we aren’t safe.”

-Marco Rubio

Nothing matters if we aren’t safe; our lives

are emptied by the scent of risk; our passions,

proximate to chance, all strictly rationed;

it cannot be enough merely to thrive,

to love our families, like our work, survive;

it’s insufficient that our God has fashioned

us to perish. Ours will be the Athens

of the modern world, a reborn state derived

from the demos, although I find democracies,

even within strict limits are a bit

too chancy. Nothing ventured? Nothing lost.

Elect me! I will be your Pericles,

though rarely modest and without the wit,

without the chance of gain, but without cost.