We know Better

These hands
covered with the blood
of countless innocent lives
lives erased by political decisions
decisions made thousands of miles away

these hands
so out of touch with reality
with the real world
hands that write words unrecognisable to reasonable minds
repeating lies as though through the repeating
they become the truth …

if heard enough

But we know otherwise …

We see that blood
we see the blood on those hands
just as clearly as we see
the bloody corpses
the violated victims
brutalized and raped by those chosen to
bring the gift of democracy to their shattered land

(a land shattered by the bombs dropped by the orders
written by the bloody hands,
a democracy promulgated by the hands of the man
that knows not the meaning of the word democracy)

it is a gift with a price far too great to accept

We see the blood flowing from wounds
inflicted by bombs
bombs dropped on children, playing in the street,
bombs dropped on hospitals, mistaken for enemy strongholds,
bombs dropped on schools,
obvious sources of evil

But we know otherwise …

We have seen this all before,
exotic places with different names
in Southeast Asia,
My Lai, and others
where villages were destroyed
burned to the ground
children running through the jungle
flesh melting from bodies
as Napalm eats them alive

But we know otherwise …

we know this “war on terrorism” is only a ruse

an excuse to pursue the colonial ideals
the height of imperialistic greed and avarice
to the peoples of other lands
regardless of what they want

“This is democracy,” they cry from atop their soapboxes,
voices straining to be heard over the strains of
“America the Beautiful”
but we know better
when an Electoral College
with the powers to ignore
the voices of the people
disregards the votes cast …

Is this the Voice of Democracy?

fortunately,
we know better.

Tags: Bush, Democracy, My Lai, Napalm, Poetry, Terrorism, Vietnam, War