Grace's Mosaic Moments


Saturday, June 21, 2025

BLATANTLY POLITICAL

 

 

Below, the protest sign made by a trans friend in a city that shall remain nameless. A friend so terrified she is considering moving to Canada.


 

 

BLATANTLY POLITICAL

 The following poem appeared on Facebook on Sunday, June 15, 2025, the day after Trump's parade down the sparsely lined streets of Washington, DC. It was posted by "One Match." I had to think about that one for a minute, but I believe the name comes from the idea that it takes but a single match to spark a huge conflagration. In this case, a rebellion against tyranny and dictatorship. I immediately copied the poem, knowing it was a "must" for my blog. I urge you to read it carefully, for the USA is rapidly approaching a crisis point. We are in imminent danger of losing the Democracy our forefathers fought for. Our President is thumbing his nose at government "of the people, by the people, for the people." He is ignoring both the Legislative and Judicial branches of the government, acting as if the Constitution did not exist. We cannot stand by and let him do it. And so said the MILLIONS OF PEOPLE across the country who turned out to protest Trump's king-like actions. 

 

Poem posted by One Match:

 
Once upon a time, there lived an evil man who wanted to be king.
No matter how many times he lied,
how loudly he shouted,
how often he cheated,
how much he stole,
how many enemies he invented—
the people never truly loved him.
So he tried harder.
He threw himself a grand birthday parade.
He ordered the soldiers to march—
not for country,
not for freedom,
but for him.
He wanted uniforms.
Flags.
The thunder of boots.
Not to honor the nation—
but to feed the illusion.
The troops came because they had to.
But their steps were off.
Their faces were blank.
They didn’t march for him.
They marched in quiet defiance.
Still, he imagined crowds.
Adoration.
Loyalty.
Tanks rolled. Fireworks cracked.
History to be rewritten.
But no one came.
And so he saluted—to empty bleachers.
A hollow gesture from a hollow man,
facing row after row of plastic chairs
that mirrored the void inside him.
His kingdom had grown tired.
Tired of the lies.
Tired of the cruelty.
Tired of fear wrapped in flags and sold as strength.
And on that very day—his birthday—they rose.
Mighty.
Unshaken.
Done.
They didn’t rise for vengeance.
They rose for something he could never understand—truth, dignity, and the dream he tried to destroy.
Yes, he had his loyalists—men and women who echoed his every word, not out of love,
but because they were paid to perform.
Just like his wives.
Just like his children.
Bought. Branded. Scripted smiles.
There was no real love.
Not from them.
Not ever.
Not from his mother.
Not from his father.
Not from a single soul.
Only leverage.
Only transactions.
Only power for rent.
And that’s what he became:
A man so hollow, he mistook obedience for love,
and fear for loyalty.
A vessel for power.
A shell for sale.
A soul long gone.
He wanted to be king.
But in the end,
he was just a man—
alone.
unloved.
saluting no one.
Performing for ghosts.
And though he stood there in costume,
wrapped in symbols he never earned,
the people had already moved on.
They rose.
And they kept rising.  
In song. In silence. In streets. In spirit.
In every truth spoken, every lie rejected.
In every hand held, every neighbor protected.
In every step that says: He could not break them.
They rose with courage.    
They rose with care.
They rose  with conviction.
And they could not be stopped.
Because the arc bends when we push.
Because the light breaks through when we stand together.               
And no crown forged in cruelty
could stop what’s coming.  
✍  One Match

~ * ~

 I chose The Sometime Bride for this week's featured book, as, in addition to being a romance, it is the story of the last seven years of Europe's twenty-year battle against a tyrant who was not willing to settle for being "king" of one country but attempted to conquer the world, from Europe to the Mediterranean to Russia. His name? Napoleon Bonaparte. 

 


 
A very young bride finds herself married to an enigmatic British spy "for her safety." And is plunged into a seven-year, highly personal view of the Peninsular War—ending, after years of blind devotion, in discovering a betrayal of her trust so immense she can only wonder: Is she the sometime bride of a man who never existed? A discarded mistress? Or a beloved wife whose only rival is her husband's expediency in a time of war?

Author's Note:
In addition to being a saga of young lovers caught up in a war, The Sometime Bride is the history of the Peninsular War, Britain's fight against Napoleon in Portugal and Spain. The story moves from France's invasion of Portugal and British troops being driven into the sea at La Coruña to the return of British troops under General Sir Arthur Wellesley, the fortified lines at Torres Vedras, and the gradual push of French troops across Spain and back to France. Plus the chaotic times in Paris after Napoleon's surrender and the Emperor's triumph as he gathers up his old troops, only to be stopped in one of the most famous and bloody battles in history—Waterloo.

Reviews:


Reviewers Choice Award. "Sometimes a reviewer gets a book so powerful, it's hard to know where to begin to tell about it. The Sometime Bride is such a book. . . . Bride passes every criterion for a successful book that I was given as a reviewer. Ms Bancroft weaves a most unusual love story in among the threads of history that cover eight years. . . . I highly recommend both Tarleton's Wife and The Sometime Bride as companion books. They are totally independent, but together give a vastly enlightening and entertaining view of the period through use of wonderful characters and page-turner plots—definite keepers, both." Jane Bowers, Romance Communications

"The writing talent displayed by the author is wonderful . . . Ms. Bancroft's detail for historical events is phenomenal. . . ."
April Redmon, Romantic Times

Five Stars. "Set against the bloody Napoleonic wars, The Sometime Bride is ambitious, engrossing and absolutely wonderful."
Rickey R. Mallory, Affaire de Coeur

Five Stars. "The Sometime Bride by Blair Bancroft is a riveting and well-written story. . . . The tension between the hero and heroine sizzles. . . ." Janet Lane Walters, Scribes World
~ * ~

For a link to Blair's websiteclick here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*
 

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Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft) 

 

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