FDR Decima

On December 23, my father and I visited Roosevelt’s Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia and the geothermal springs pool that is currently awaiting restoration donations to allow springs-seeking sufferers to come soak in the healing waters and find comfort - as FDR himself found on his 41 visits. Here is a Decima, written about a photograph of an accordionist as FDR’s body passed by on its way back to Washington, D.C.

FDR Decima

Our nation mourned a President

whose portrait remains unfinished,

human spirit undiminished 

grief-stricken faces evident

humanity’s fair precedents

once serious - not doublespeak

accordionist’s tear-streaked cheeks

symbolized America’s grief

inspired in us, though his legs weak

to seek the mighty, never meek 

A Decima is a 10-line poem with 8 syllables per line, having rhyme scheme ABBAACCDCC