Happy New Year, For The Tides They Are A-Changing

Quote of the week:

“We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand — and melting like a snowflake.” — Sir Francis Bacon

Note to ACW Readers: With apologies and gratitude to Bob Dylan, whose ten-year old Tennessee bourbon, Heaven’s Door, is worth sampling.

Come gather ‘round lobbyists

Wherever you roam

And admit that the brown air

Around you has grown

The waters keep rising

No need to ask why

Streets flooded below your perches up high

Your inclement fashion is such a dud

Your high heels will only sink in the mud

For the tides they are a-changing

Your pipelines cross homesteads and forested land

With passes from politicos at your command

Preaching the gospel of supply and demand

The demand side equation needs fixin’

When truckers are laid off for driverless rides

To box stores awash on the Chinese tide

The Amazon Man ain’t votin’ for you

He’s shooting for space with a very thin crew

And now you can buy food from him too

For the tides they are a-changing

Come writers and critics

Ye who prophesize with your pen

Smugness won’t help you

The self-righteous offend

Tweeting won’t be nearly enough to contend

Resisting on-line masks the slacker within

Go talk to your neighbor and sit with his kin

A big tent needs to open

For the arc that will bend

And for the tides to be a-changing

Come senators, congressmen

Heed ye the call

Don’t stand in the doorway

Don’t block up the hall

Remember your Lady’s creed and beliefs

The ones that are foreign to the Grifter in Chief

The gospel of wealth and fame as a lure

Won’t get you knockin’ on heaven’s door

So gather round join in the waging

For the tides to be a-changing