Meacham at St. Paul's Church, Chattanooga

I rub my hand across the stone font
Where Jon Meacham took on the water
Of baptism and signed on to the cross
In an olive oil signature made for words.

The empty sanctuary now quiet for prayer echoes
With last night’s lecture on the future of democracy.
Light pours through the stained glass window
With a narrative of Saul, struck down blind

Like our leaders today who stone us with words
Or those sycophants who hold their coats in silence,
While sentences of lost reason spew poison
Through the politic that formed this nation.

Singing through this sanctuary, a noon sound
Of church bells plays “my country ’tis of thee.”
History rings out through the sanctuary
In remembrance when the Founders supported

A document for union, written in the breach
As rivers rise to affirm our baptism to Freedom.