"And the Weak Will Parish" Villanelle
“Only the strong will survive and the weak
(a certain small-city Texas mayor wrote)
will parish.” Assistance you should not seek.
The Don’t-Mess-With state messed in a freeze
was no time for politicians to bully and gloat.
But with their homegrown energy grid on its knees,
this home-spun Emerson took to Facebook to speak
upon self-reliance: “your lazy,” he did note,
a poor raising gave you a socialist streak.
The governor, Abbott, pointing at AOC,
made a claim both electrifying and rote:
he blamed it on the Green New Deal—what cheek!
(I do love that parish—evangelical spellcheck?)
If reasonable people choose not to vote
we’ll all find ourselves up the proverbial creek.
The late Limbaugh’s dittos, hateful and bleak,
bray ideology trumps service. Quote:
Only the strong will survive and the weak
will “parish.” Assistance ye shall not seek.