MLK (A Holiday Sonnet)

Fewer and fewer people remember

his charisma, the marches, lack of fear

facing institutionalized violence,

including the American government's

infiltration of the movement, their smear

of his ethics and its guiding ember.

It would be nice to say his dream lives on

and stride forward, character over race,

on the Left side of history -- equal

and up to the task, perhaps a prequel

to a time like The Tempest full of grace --

shipwrecked, but one, with all the monsters gone.

What are we going to do? It's so dark.

AIs have more life than our fading spark.