by Phillip Whidden

a villanelle

In nations where strong freedoms wilt, they die.
A threat involving danger lies in wait.
Unless we keep our liberties close by,
 
Our cultures will be crushed.  We must defy
Free will’s opponents, ruthless in the state.
In nations where strong freedoms wilt, they die:
 
Our elders and our young ones have to cry
Out in their souls against oppression’s weight.
Unless we keep our liberties close by,
 
Our spirits will be strangled like a sigh
In countries suffocated by strict hate.
In nations where strong freedoms wilt, they die.
 
Compassion is degraded.  False ones lie
And double talk becomes what they dictate.
Unless we keep our liberties close by,
 
Eternal truths will have wings clipped.  They fly
When quieter compassions congregate
In nations. Where strong freedoms wilt, they die
Unless we keep our liberties close by.

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Recognized as an Honorable Mention in the adult category of FoFG’s 2018 Poetry Contest

Phillip Whidden is a poet published in America, England, Scotland (and elsewhere) in book form, online, and in journals.