It has taken a long time for democracy to come almost full circle in the United States, and now Americans face a four-year winter, hopefully not longer. I am firmly convinced that good things leave us when we don't think and act in good ways often enough. It seems that a large minority of American citizens are hateful and bigoted, but they have only been emboldened by the silence around them. Love cannot flourish if it is muted, and loving people have to take the risk of wearing it on their sleeves if the hateful among them are to be demoralized.These five short poems express despair for what has gone wrong in America, and the fervent hope that Americans can pick up the pieces of their broken dreams, before it is too late.