Sunday in winter. Sleep late. Take your time waking up. Stretch out your back. Get good and loose. Pick up the paper. See who’s on first. Look for a familiar name. Read about your fate. Toss it on the rack. Time for pancakes with fruit-- Apple, banana, and strawberries with maple syrup and hot tea. Scan the headlines. Contemplate how Penn lost to Yale. See who went to jail. Ask how Giles ever got to own a major league team. Figure out what Bill Clinton stands for. (Sex in the shower, V-chips, the Pledge of Allegiance?) Clean up and dream. Take a walk to the river. Pass by the Hall Where Jefferson and Madison and Franklin Debated the common good And founded a nation Whose belief has become that you can escape From reality and obligations to others by cutting taxes or running away to the safety and release Of malls, SUVs, suburbs, and TV-- Our only lasting legacy. Into the shadows of horses and history Stroll on through the past. The bell’s not all it’s cracked up to be-- But, then again, neither are we. A faint whisper of an idea Struggles to be heard, collapses with the effort, and surrenders To the clicks and flashes of tourists’ cameras. Ben and Betsy smile and wave: Y’all come back to the land of the free And the home of the brave.Birth sign: Capricorn
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