Bearing Witness to the Times: Ale for What Ails Ye

Tidal Marsh on San Francisco Bay (CBS photo)

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Ale for What Ails Ye

Shakespeare’s Falstaff

Extolled the virtues of sack

Even as he joined the fight

Upon Henry the Fifth’s noble call to arms.
Moreover, the Bard oft spoke
Of merriment and ale.

The psalmist sang

In sacred text

That God gave us wine

To make the heart rejoice.

Partaking of the vine

And passing the brew –

A time-honored practice

Going back to antiquity.

Egyptian hieroglyph

And Sumerian cuneiform

Record the practice

Of fermentation.

One might say

That alcoholic beverage

Is the mark of civilization.

Or, one might also say

That as soon as people learned

To live in large communities,

They needed some way

To tolerate

Life in such close proximity.

Thus wine and ale

Smoothed the rough edges.

The dark side came

When English employers

Paid workers in gin, 

And colonizers gave firewater

To indigenous tribes.

Liquor became the co-conspirator

In the exploitation of people

On two continents.

Yet the altered state

Continues to have appeal

As heads-of-state

Conspire to wreck

The natural state

While calling into question

Our human fate.

We raise a glass
To celebrate 

The things that remain;
To tolerate
The troubled times;
To smooth the rough edges –

And for the glory of ancient Sumer.

                                                     ~ CK

Good People Brewing Company, Birmingham, AL (Photo by Bryan Richards)

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From my introductory post:

The best thing that poets can do is to bear witness to the times – articulate what is happening in the moment; speak to the real life experiences of your people.  I am setting myself a goal to write a poem each week that reflects what I see and experience in the life of our nation. I may not post a poem each week, but if I can write one poem a week there will be some chronicle of our sacred/tested/doubtful union.

I hope my efforts will not be polemical, but will rather be a true expression of what is. My goal will be to speak to our experiences of what we see and feel in our community and national life. Hopefully that poetic chronicle will depict the joys, sorrows, celebrations and uncertainties that come forth in our common struggle for a more perfect union.

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