November’s edges curl rustic brown
Leaving green and brilliant yellow.
Breezes rustle sporadic leaves down,
As golden hues paint overall mellow.

Virginia’s countryside color feast,
Loveliest, liveliest month of the year,
Yet a few gallons of gas to the east,
U.S. Senate goes crazy with fear.

Prez has nominated a new sitter
For Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat.
Alito’s record makes Dems bitter,
Rightwing Repubs say he’s neat.

Moderate Senators on both sides,
Are holding their fire without fights.
The argument, if any dare confides,
Is over family privacy rights.

Put the judge in a car and drive west,
‘Til colored leaves and sky are overtopped
In Virginia, whose Constitution was best,
When a model our country would adopt.

Virginia’s religious folk wrote with definition
Their belief in separation of church and state,
Was the only way, they said, in admonition,
To stop abuse of power when the two mate.

So teach the judge this enlightened fact,
And let him enjoy the sylvan beauty,
Hope he takes these sharp edges back
To Washington, D.C. and duty.

© 2005 R. Leland Waldrip