F.D.R.

Fear, I hear, is a terrible thing
And the cornerstone of a coward.
Yet to the vine of forethought it will cling
For a future lattice safely bowered.

Therewith wild nature is uniformed
And risk is fashioned more nugatory
So pleasures and not dangers are normed,
Which makes existence more hunky dory.

Reason MUST be fear's administrator
As an actuarial conundrum
Is akin to a modern encore
Of reductio ad absurdum...

Which helps forestall those grotesque extremes
That convert republics into regimes.