The First Son (The Apple of Joe K's Eye)

With your death,  
came a dire wind,  
a great foreboding,  
a new kind of Doom.  
 
We would never again,  
be worthy of Princes,  
or lives of our Youth,  
whose blood would pay  
for the folly.  
 
Instead we elected  
criminals of a new stripe,  
& befuddled old fools.  
 
We have since reaped  
a blood harvest,  
in souls,  
& the future of our Children.  
 
Castro lives,  
Minh lived to be 79,  
Teddy made it  
to 77,  
Hoffa got iced,  
LBJ drowned,  
in the blood of  
Nam,  
Jackie married  
a millionaire,  
but lies with you  
at Arlington.  
 
Only you and Bobby,  
left young corpses,  
frozen in time,  
youthful hope,  
crusaders,  
fornicators,  
sailors,
Joe Jr. went up
in a pink mist,
over the channel,
trying to steal your
glory.  
 
Red menaces faded  
into mediocrity,  
Europe grew fat  
while a new  
menace grew  
with the poppies.  
 
They still grow them  
in your image,  
but they fall short,  
not as slick,  
discreet,  
or wealthy.  
 
So forgive us  
for the holes  
blown into you,  
& the brains blown out,  
you had been blown enough,  
& it may have caught up with you.
 
*Joe Kennedy Jr. was the first-born Kennedy son, but died during WWII in 1944.