Despite The Independent reporting the poem was not commissioned by Trump or his transition team, many people on social media were apparently confused and believed the poem to be an official part of the inauguration ceremony.
While many people did take the poem seriously, others quickly turned to making jokes — with one poet even going so far as to make a new erasure poem from it.
Another person was inspired to write her own inauguration poem.
However, as Snopes has reported, Joseph Charles McKenzie's poem is not officially part of the inauguration and will not be read at the ceremony.
This "inauguration" poem was first published by the web site ClassicPoets.org on 15 January 2017. The group did not claim that the poem would be read at the inauguration, but their version of the poem was accompanied by instructions for how the it would theoretically be presented if it were used at the inauguration. When the group shared the poem on Facebook, the lyric was accompanied by a message imploring Trump to include the poem, making it clear that this poem had not been selected for this purpose in the first place. This poem is not listed in the schedule of events planned for the inauguration. When reached for comment, the Society of Classical Poets confirmed that this poem had not been chosen as the official poem of Donald Trump's inauguration.
Here is the full text of the poem:
Come out for the Domhnall, ye brave men and proud, The scion of Torquil and best of MacLeod! With purpose and strength he came down from his tower To snatch from a tyrant his ill-gotten power. Now the cry has gone up with a cheer from the crowd: “Come out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!” When freedom is threatened by slavery’s chains And voices are silenced as misery reigns, We’ll come out for a leader whose courage is true Whose virtues are solid and long overdue. For, he’ll never forget us, we men of the crowd Who elected the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! When crippling corruption polluted our nation And plunged our economy into stagnation, As self-righteous rogues took the opulent office And plump politicians reneged on their promise The forgotten continued to form a great crowd That defended the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! The Domhnall’s a giver whilst others just take, Ne’er gaining from that which his hands did not make. A builder of buildings, employing good men, He’s enriched many cities by factors of ten. The honest and true gladly march with the crowd Standing up for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! True friend of the migrant from both far and near, He welcomes the worthy, but guards our frontier, Lest a murderous horde, for whom hell is the norm, Should threaten our lives and our nation deform. We immigrants hasten to swell the great crowd.” Coming out for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! Academe now lies dead, the old order rots, No longer policing our words and our thoughts; Its ignorant hirelings pretending to teach Are backward in vision, sophomoric in speech. Now we learnèd of mind add ourselves to the crowd That cheers on the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! The black man, forgotten, in poverty dying, The poor man, the sick man, with young children crying, The soldier abroad and the mother who waits, The young without work or behind prison gates, The veterans, wounded, all welcome the crowd That fights for the Domhnall, the best of MacLeod! Whilst hapless old harridans flapping their traps Teach women to look and behave like us chaps, The Domhnall defends the defenseless forlorn; For, a woman’s first right is the right to be born. Now the bonnie young lassies that fly to the crowd Have a champion in Domhnall, the best of MacLeod!