may his name be erased

There's silence, where encomia would be;
Dick Cheney'sv legacy's embarrassment.
Five trillion blown on wars lost overseas;
at home, a more intrusive government.
The principles he'd brayed he holds so
dear,
fell silent once there's power in his hand.
entrenching power by purveying fear
moved power from the People to one man.
To preach that torture isn't always wrong
as long as it gains power for the Few/
perverted what it had meant to be strong,
obscuring what real men would never do.
For years, I prayed that any flag half-mast
would signal--finally--Dick's age is past.