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Three historical poems by Michael Ceraolo

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

 April 1776


Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
John Adams' room in Mrs. Sarah Yard's rooming house,
where he is visited of an evening by Thomas Paine

Adams:     Come in, Mr Paine,
                and let us enjoy a glass or two
                while discussing the events of the day

Paine:       Thank you, Mr. Adams;
                 it should make for a lively evening

(Several glasses of Madeira
will be drunk by both men during the course of the evening
The reader can mentally refill the empties glasses)

Adams:      Back home in Massachusetts
                 there are some who think I wrote Common Sense
                 But I have made it clear that I did not:
                 "I could not have written any Thing
                  in so manly and striking a style"

Paine:        Thank you
                  I propose a toast:
                  to you and to everyone who is
                  "a good citizen,
                  an open and resolute friend,
                  and a virtuous supporter of the Rights of Mankind
                  and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA"

Adams:       That sentiment does not yet command
                   the majority of the Congress

Paine:          Perhaps not,
                   though I think from the reception of the pamphlet
                   it does command the sentiment
                   of the majority of the people,
                                                               and thus
                   it will soon be time to tell the English
                   "we will make peace with you as enemies,
                    but we will never re-unite with you as friends"

Adams:         I don't think the Congress can be rushed
                    into making such a declaration,
                    but I do believe we will come to that point

Paine:           Let us hope that moment comes sooner rather than later
                    And whenever it does come,
                    concurrent with the prosecution of the war
                    must be the creation of
                    "a continental form of government"
                    One possible form of that government
                    I talk about in the pamphlet

Adams:         Your "Plans of Continental Government
                     are not much applauded"

Paine:           What is the objection to it?

Adams:         It is taking things in the wrong order
                                                                            First,
                    "each colony should establish its own Government,
                    and then a League should be formed,
                    between them all

Paine:           Such a sentiment weakens us:
                    "our strength is continental,
                    not provincial"

Adams:                                 I believe you are
                    "a better Hand at pulling down than building"
                    "if I had undertaken such a Work"
                    "I should have made a more respectable Figure
                    as an Architect"

Paine:                                      Plainly,
                    you have undertaken such a work,
                    even if it not be widely disseminated yet
                    You have already spoken of some of it;
                    let us hear more of it

Adams:        "I think that a people cannot be long-free,
                    nor ever happy,
                    whose government is in one Assembly"

Paine:           I say
                    "the more simple any thing is,
                    the less liable it is to be disordered,
                    and the easier repaired when disordered"
                    What say you to that?

Adams:         "the divine science of politics
                     is the science of social happiness,
                     and the blessings of society depend
                     entirely on the constitutions of government",
                                                                                      and
                     a government with all power constituted in
                     "A SINGLE Assembly
                     is apt to grow ambitious,
                                                         and after a time
                     will not hesitate to vote itself perpetual"

Paine:            Then,
                              to prevent such a thing,
                      let that assembly first frame,
                      subject to ratification by the people,
                      "a CONTINENTAL CHARTER"
                      "to form a constitution of our own
                       in a cool deliberate manner
                       while we have it in our power"
                       I believe such would be
                       the best way to go about
                      "Securing freedom and prosperity to all men,
                       and above all things, the free exercise of religion,
                       according to the dictates of conscience"
                       You are afraid of the Many
                       I am not

Adams:                             It is true
                       "I sometimes doubt
                       whether there is public Virtue enough
                       to support a Republic"
                                                         and so
                       "it is the Part of a great Politician
                        to make the Character of his People,
                        to extinguish among them,
                        the Follies and Vices that he sees,
                        and to create in them
                        the Virtues and Abilities
                        which he sees wanting
                        I wish I was sure 
                        that America has one such Politician,
                        but I fear she has not"

Paine:               Fear not
                        "It is the duty of the public"
                        as the way of gaining
                        "a thorough knowledge of the persons whom we trust",
                        "to scrutinize closely into the conduct of
                        their Committee Members,
                        Members of Assembly,
                                                           and
                        Delegates in Congress;
                        to know what they do
                        and their motives for so doing"

Adams:            "Patience,
                                        Fortitude,
                                                       and Perseverance,
                        with the Help of Time,
                        will get us over these obstructions"

Paine:              Time is indeed our ally,
                                                           for
                       despite the beauty and power of Reason,
                       "Time makes more converts than reason"



March 15, 1783

"this dreadful alternative,
                                      of either
deserting our Country in the extremest hour of her distress,
or turning our Arms against it,
(which is the apparent object,
unless Congress be compelled
into instant compliance)
has something so shocking in it,
that humanity revolts at the idea"

"in the attainment of compleat justice
for all you toils and changes,
and in the gratification of every wish,
so far as may be done consistently
with the great duty I owe my Country,
and those powers we are bound to respect,
you may freely command my Services
to the utmost of my abilities"

                                               And thus
those who were planning a possible coup
"by sowing the seeds of discord and separation
between the Civil and Military powers of the Constitution"
were thwarted by the prestige of George Washington



March 2, 1805

The storm of the impeachment trial had ended,
and just in time,
                         Burr thought to himself,
                                                             for
tomorrow would be the last day of the Eighth Congress
and,
        the day being a Sunday,
no business would be transacted
The ornamentation for the trial was gone
and the chamber returned to its usual shabbiness;
perhaps one day the decor would befit
the high station the Senate had been assigned

Twenty-eight of the thirty-four senators
that Burr was preparing to address
would be returning in December
when the Ninth Congress assembled for the first time
Burr would not be returning:
                                          in two days
he would be the first Vice-President
not to move up to the Presidency,
but to return to private life,
                                        and so,
instead of giving an inaugural address,
he would now give a farewell one
The senators,
                     most of whom were of Burr's party,
sat transfixed by Burr's words
(even though Burr had been repudiated
by the party's leader, the President),
and he came to the end of his speech:

"This house is a sanctuary;
a citadel of law,
of order,
              and of liberty;
it is here----
it is here in this exalted refuge----
here,
         if anywhere,
will be resistance made
to the storms of political frenzy
and the silent arts of corruption
And if the Constitution
be destined ever to perish
by the sacrilegious hands
of the demagogue or the usurper,
which God avert,
                          its expiring agonies
will be witnessed on this floor"

With that,
Burr stepped down from the chair
and strode from the chamber,
shutting the door with perhaps
more force than was necessary
on his way out
There was no applause,
                                    as
would become customary in later years:
"There was a solemn and silent weeping
for . . . five minutes"


About Michael Ceraolo 

Michael Ceraolo is a 62-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet who has had two full-length books (Euclid Creek, from Deep Cleveland Press; 500 Cleveland Haiku, from Writing Knights Press) published, and has two more (Euclid Creek Book Two and Lawyers, Guns, and Money) in the publication pipeline.

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