One More Young Seed of Freedom

The yearning seed of true freedom, Planted deep in the rightful soil, Needs warmth, water, and weeding, A task of endless vigilance and toil. Since for every ten seeds planted, Half perish in the tender first year, And half that in the second, then the third, Leaving precious few to finally appear. Tis the rarest of domesticated plants, A long-sought exotic cultivar, Now known as liberal democracy, It grows only where you and you are … Eternally vigilant, day and night, Always true to the noble cause, Since if we're not vigilant enough, All is soon lost to false applause. Heard from those who are cheering, For populist authoritarians, Whose clever lies, hates and fears, Whip the mob into rabid contrarians. Small lies are stacked into big lies, Tipping fear into blind intolerance, Till even your brother becomes the other, As hate escalates into mob violence. At the helm stands the chief deceiver, Fanning flames of hate into war. Soon brother turns upon brother, And the pattern runs its course once more. The center cannot hold, nations choose sides, The invaders pour forth blood and gore. Whistling shells fly, shrapneled bodies die, Till one day the battlefield cries no more. That day is coming none too soon, To the wise and the brave of Ukraine, Because those who believe in democracy, Have refused the sweet soothing refrain: “Who cares of distant wars, on other shores? Why not appease the might master?” Hark! Such roads turn up at first, But later down, to doom and disaster. Stand! With the people who resolutely see, Stand! With the Mensch who did not flee, Because “The fight is here. I need ammunition not a ride.” Causing you and you to globally decide, To give one more young Seed of Freedom, All it needs to grow tall and thrive. That's the best We the People can do, If democracy is to long survive. The original poem, combined with a Petrykivka painting, is here. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.