True Believers



I thought of you again today,
Much younger, a wine glass in hand
That share house election party
Gathered together in a smoke haze

Round the TV, Keating's finest hour,
Nineteen ninety three;
I was western suburbs unemployed
You'd just started teaching

The sweetest night of all,
You said, almost planting a kiss

"They tried to divide the country,
but the people have kept the faith"
Do you first write your victory speech
Then the other one just in case?

A clarion of pots and pans
All down our Somerville Road.

I got older than you.
Your wife has begun to see someone new,
I bumped into your kids,
And well they're making happy as they can

What a time we are having.
I feel narrow as a Polaroid

"They tried to divide the country,
but the people have kept the faith"
Do you first write your victory speech
Then the other one just in case?

True believers
True believers
True believers

I think of you every time
I am standing in the line
For a sauce and democracy sausage

That election party invitation
On the fridge, photocopy of a photocopy

I got older than you
I don't truly believe
In this illusion of choice,
But you gotta use it
Or they'll certainly take it away

What are you doing Saturday with your ghost?
Pick a marginal - I'll tell you if it falls.

"They tried to divide the country,
but the people have kept the faith"
Do you first write your victory speech
Then the other one just in case?

True believers
True believers
True believers

~ Brendan Bonsack 2025