.

I met the man I never knew before

Until on my college graduation day.
Never thought I shall watch him
Prancing on the Senate floor in May.

He worked for the next thirty plus years.
 Debating, maneuvering bills, speaking out
I heard his fiddling with the skillful oratory
For the Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.
 
His sense of history, his grasp of present
His love for the people; dismissed by elites,
Not important, snake handlers, Hillbillies,
In  tongues they speak; the wild sorts.
 
Senator brought the highways and made
Good his promises to bring the state
In par with the rest, and delivered the votes
To select a Kennedy to be the next president..
 
Much was he admired; equally despised for
Power of the wily Robert Byrd; a Mountaineer,
None recognized until the day he was gone.
Folks in the mountains cried, “our Byrd has flown”.
 
He’s left and today, a new debate is on,
What’s in the budget that the wealthy
Congress likely to chop? Food stamps,
School Lunch or the health care cost?