November 20 – Nancy Pelosi

 

Nancy Pelosi announced she’ll relinquish her leadership mantle;

It’s like Athena was leaving the throne in her temple in Athens. (1)

Goddess of wisdom, she tormented pompous right-wingers:

Donald, the liar, exposing his petulant, immature tantrums,

Bills passed in spite of Republican’s constant obstruction and lying,

Winning all votes on the House floor by keeping her caucus together.

Heroine, victor in battle, unparalleled skills as a leader,

None as effective as Nancy has served as the Speaker in Congress.

No one who waits in the wings has her skills and her judgment.

New generations will read of her exploits in Congress and praise them.

Jealous detractors will not learn the lessons her leadership taught us.

 

Subsequent Speakers will find they can’t emulate what she accomplished.

Kevin McCarthy, unworthy but widely assumed her successor,

Lacking in principles, driven by lust for position and power,

He will do anything that he thinks wins him the Speakership mantle.

Pundits and prophets predict a reign filled with disastrous misjudgements,

For he’s beholden to all of his crazy and devious members.

Greene, Gaetz, and Gosar and Gohmert and Biggs will be Kevin’s undoing.

Crazy, dishonest and thirsting for power and all of its trappings,

Crabs in a bucket, crawl over each other, so none can gain freedom.

None can escape from the chaos and fall into Dante’s Inferno. (2)

Tragedy of their own making, Euripides could not plot better.

Hubris, ambition humiliate tyrants and lead to their downfall,

Qualities clear in vindictive Republican leaders and minions.

Torturing enemies leads to rebellion but no legislation.

What would Cassandra predict for their coming assumption of power?

She warned the Trojans of looming disaster but no one believed her.

Nothing today makes Republicans likely to heed any warnings.

From all they’re telling us of all their plans for their tenure as leaders,

They will destroy themselves by their obsessive thirst only for vengeance.

Vengeance for what? you ask: (only for losing elections and power.)

Their self-destruction will further increase all our national discord,

Spreading like cancer, democracy may not survive their election.

 

• This is written in the style of a Greek epic poem, unrhymed dactylic hexameter.
• Dante Aligheri, 1265-1321, was a Florentine poet, not Greek, as you well know. However, his Inferno considered similar themes.  Corrupt politicians and political national traitors are far down in the eighth and ninth (deepest) circles.  A word of warning from Dante: “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.”  Lose all hope, you who enter here.