Twas the week before Christmas, when all through our nation

Impeachment was stirring, Presidential ablation

Amendments were hung by their necks with great care,

In hopes that our rights would soon run out of air;

High justice was nestled all snug in its branch,

While the other two Powers, enjoyed their carte blanche;

With Congress in its mischief, and Trump in his cap,

The judges and Senate were sharing a nap,

When up in my head there arose such a clatter

I sprang up to scream can't you see what's the matter!

Away to the bookshelf I flew like a flash,

Tore open my mind to expunge balderdash.

The words that addressed all the bluster and blow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to how we should know,

In front of my wondering eyes it was clear,

My Liberty’s why my government's here.

With an old Declaration, still lively and quick,

I knew We the People together should stick,

More rapid than eagles the Bill of Rights came,

And I whistled and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now Liberty! Now Safety! Now Grievance Redress!

On, Assembly! On, Religion! Free Speech and Free Press!

To the Rights I've not named! To Amendments unwrit!

To We People defamed and our leaders unfit!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

Self-evident truths, askew and awry,

A government meant to secure and protect,

Now governs with ego, unmoved and unchecked.

And so, in this inkling, I've heard and discerned

Our Founder’s intent that today goes unlearned.

Worth saying again and again to be clear,

My Liberty's why my government's here!

Dressed in two parties, from his head to his foot,

Uncle Sam is now tarnished with ashes and soot;

A partisan bundle he's flung on his back,

And he looks like a swindler just opening his pack.

His guise – how it sparkles! His eyes though are scary!

His cheeks are so sallow, his nose is so hairy!

His droll little mouth is drawn up in a scowl,

The odor that's wafting is corruption most foul!

The stumps of our rights he holds tight in his teeth,

And the smokescreen encircles his head like a wreath;

He has a flat face and a distended belly,

That heaves when he breathes like petrified jelly.

From his pack he lays out an undignified spread

Of judges and lawmakers and agency heads;

A roll of his eyes and a scrunch of his neck,

Soon gave me to know Uncle Sam is a wreck;

He speaks and his minions go straight to their work,

Upholding bad laws and creating more murk,

One party's too much, the other's too little,

Both too pretentious, divisive and brittle.

Worth saying again, and again I will shout,

“You've got it backwards! Turned all inside out!

I wish you would listen! Here's my Christmas cheer!

My Liberty's why my government's here!”

But he’s covered his ears; to his team gives a whistle,

And away they all hide, with nose hairs abristle.

And I heard him exclaim, ere he dove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to some, and to all a good-night."