Our Deepest Condolences on the Loss of Your Decency
A Prose Poem by Bett Butler
Dear friend,
we offer our deepest condolences on the loss of your Decency. We knew it had been in poor health for quite a while, and its long, slow demise was excruciatingly painful to witness. Words cannot express how much your Decency will be missed.
I recall with great affection its presence in the many lively political discussions we shared, its ready tolerance of viewpoints other than its own, the stimulating exchange of ideas, the gentle disagreements.
I will always remember its wonderful sense of humor, its readiness to laugh but never at another’s expense, how it would never have found it amusing to mock a disabled reporter or call women fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.
I’ll always remember your Decency’s patriotism, how it never would have thought it was okay to refer to those serving in the military as losers or to denigrate a hero who’d been a prisoner of war, preferring instead people who weren’t captured.
How I admired your Decency’s love of truth, how it would have scoffed at claims that a man could have been unaware that his lawyer/fixer paid a porn star to keep mum about their affair—or that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating residents’ dogs and cats.
I’ll never forget your Decency’s empathy, its sympathy for those affected by disaster, how it would have been horrified at something so crass and clueless as tossing rolls of paper towels into a crowd of people whose homes had been washed away by a hurricane.
I’ll always remember your Decency’s love of justice and its belief that no one, regardless of rank or stature, is above the law.
Dear friend, your loss is our loss, too. Your Decency touched so many with its kindness and goodness, and we were privileged to know it. Now that it is gone, may we all take comfort in those fond memories. We send thoughts and prayers.
Bett Butler’s (she/her) poetry and short fiction have appeared in Weave, Feathertale, Amp, and other small-press publications in the U.S. and Canada. An award-winning songwriter and jazz musician (International Songwriting Competition, Independent Music Awards), she co-owns Mandala Music Production in San Antonio, Texas, where she and her spouse produce music and spoken word licensed for HBO, Discovery Channel, and more.
