crunch time

The Czarist empire Gorbachev renounced
still beckons Putin when he dreams at night.
Ukrainians see plainly they'd be trounced
if they can't count on NATO in the fight.
The"European Project" that's quashed war
three generations (leaving Balkans out)
can't go on doing what it's done before
should old allegiances forswear their clout.
But solidarity against the Bear
who'd eat the smaller neighbors, one by one,
is growing firm as if out of thin air
to lend Ukrainians resolve, and guns.
If Biden'd just concede that Putin lies,
he might do something more than compromise.