Freedom

Midnight
and snow softens the bitten edge
of City Center.
Strange earth moving engines slumber,
ghosted in street lamps.

Once high above the square,
the Liberty Bell now hangs in a glass
and steel box,
carefully lit to accentuate the crack.

At the viewing window
a panel displays an inviting button.
You push it.
A serious voice gives you a lesson in history.

You wonder what the hell they are doing
putting liberty in a box,

suddenly the panel spits out a brand new
eight penny nail,
and the voice tells you:
Drive it home, Citizen,
one more nail for the coffin.


City of Brotherly Love, 1986