truths once held to be self-evident
that all people were created equal
had been endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights
among which were life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness
at least that was the aspiration
though it was always more complex
the people constructing common vision
beyond the who and where and when
of origins, tribes, races, creeds
enthalpy of nation-building
mortar that held together
a people rich in their diversity
this experiment of possibilities
sustainable only in the choice
commitment to the narrative
that shared destiny, the journey
which lost, deliberately abandoned
opens entropy's door, a disintegration
into those disparate parts or worse
setting each against the other
the energy that once had built
now tearing, shreds, spins apart
become the power-brokers' choice
divide and rule the order of the day
carving out empires of self-interest
we the people expendable, entirely
Mar 12
Mar 12, 2026 at 4:26 AM UTC
truths once held to be self-evident
that all people were created equal
had been endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights
among which were life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness
at least that was the aspiration
though it was always more complex
the people constructing common vision
beyond the who and where and when
of origins, tribes, races, creeds
enthalpy of nation-building
mortar that held together
a people rich in their diversity
this experiment of possibilities
sustainable only in the choice
commitment to the narrative
that shared destiny, the journey
which lost, deliberately abandoned
opens entropy's door, a disintegration
into those disparate parts or worse
setting each against the other
the energy that once had built
now tearing, shreds, spins apart
become the power-brokers' choice
divide and rule the order of the day
carving out empires of self-interest
we the people expendable, entirely
12th March 2026
Stephen Cooper
