'The System' - WordPromptChallenge

A friend prompted me to write something about 'The System'. I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just get to it:

By the people, of the people, for the people;

I was twelve when I first heard that among

The other things my history teacher said

On that Tuesday afternoon in May

She tried to give us an important lesson on

This system for which blood has bathed

The land and sea and air all red

An ideal for which wars have been fought

To a heartbreakingly bitter end.

She told us about the three key arms

And how that was just the beginning;

How there was so much to it

That made it simply wonderful

Merit based, active participation

Informed decisions, fair and just

Progressively modern…and best of all?

That was the country we lived in.

That day my heart swelled with pride;

And I would have stayed to listen to more

That she might have wanted to say,

But, alas, as it was

I was only twelve

And as she had just begun to end

The bell to go home sounded off

In my haste to leave the room

All I heard was incomplete:

'Remember that this is a picture of…'

And then I was gone.

Now,

Five years after having cast my first vote

I know what it is she had been about to say:

How that final sentence was supposed to end-

'how it's meant to be.'

Photo by Arnaud Jaegers on Unsplash

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