VOICES: Reign of Error -- a sonnet concerning North Carolina

By Scott Huler

The sea will rise -- how much we dare not guess;
For guesses must with heaven not compete.
On earth we move the boundaries, thus complete
The transformation leading to this mess.

Beneath the ground lie gases we must free
The population’s cries we do not mind
Renewable is oil -- but not the wind
For those who tell the lie refuse to see.

Oh Carolina, once you led the way,
Seceding only when surrounded were.
Science and education made you pure.
Those days are gone, the current dunces say.

Our new concern cannot be held extreme;
Here does the Reign of Error rule supreme.