A Promise to My Daughter in the Wake of a Trump Presidency

We trudge through the snow
me in my pea coat
you in your pink snow suit
two months too big

I show you the garden
the celery is dying
and I promise you it will begin anew

as for everything else
I do not know

You are just grasping the fall colors
of a country
which is beautiful
and ill and tired

I can only explain the leaves

nothing else
just the colors
that will begin anew

I’ve failed you

We’ve failed you

but I will be the hammer for you

I will be the tornado

like a fighter past his prime

until we take our last walk

and look at the celery
and look at the leaves

and we will have our silence
as loud as thunder
as we breathe the air
and continue on

© 2016 Lee Kitzis