The old horseman drops his lance
Undone by the garish displays
Of passionate intensity

The banners pennants shibboleths prayers and invocations
The bellowing orators
The audiences chanting their adoration

Partisan without portfolio
Withholding participation
In the drawing up of lines

Falls perforce willy-nilly
On the side where he’s been all along
Slack with melancholia

Ashamed of his impotence
Too sad to be powerful
Too weak to be gay