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