Election

I am not sure I have been a wise leader.
I have put me in harm's way
with a vague and wavering foreign policy,
I have burned through resources
for short-term gain,
and overspent on the exploration of space.

Tonight I ask every cell to vote for me,
that despite the economic downturn
and the certain debilities of aging,
the threats from without and within,
that I hear you and will be a strong leader.

I pledge to take you as far as you can go
in this very life, to set the conditions
whereby you can grow, multiply, and do your job,
live to the fullness of your destiny
bearing the torch of a venerable life
and share the brilliant beam of the life of sanctity. 

The future will be difficult, this I can see,
where blind leaders bargain for Trojan horses.
I ask you, in this narrow veldt we breathe
to lend me your nucleus and vesicles,
your mitochondria. 

I am not asking a lot of you, 
I am asking everything. 
In return, I will lead facing the future, 
standing firm with each and every one of you
on the rich ground of the past we share
and walk onward, not without questions,
but with unswerving courage
and the magnificent awareness
that we are only here because of one another.