We are believers
we’ve placed full faith in
a magic that uses
words to transform
chaos into the norm
human beings into
disposable things
buildings into rubble
life into death (by drone)
bodies into ash (and bone)
cultures into terror (ized)
threats
one religion into
worse than the next
and in the center of the world
we keep making bets
and holding our breath
waiting
for more
stolen treasure
spoils of war
has it been a pleasure
weaving hatred and fear
lasting a day
lasting a year
lasting a decade
lasting a score
our memories fade
as we sneak out the door
but we can’t forget
war/s
that have long been
forgotten
and we curse now the fruit
all our labors begotten
as bey sings to barry
ellen giggles with bush
they can’t cleanse their guilt
from the hindu kush
where we pushed and we pushed
Sisyphean, we
pushed and we pushed
led by blind kings
you see
being all we could be
we pushed and pushed more
pushing three cups of tea
and two decades of war
taking kids tired and poor
hungry red white and blue
saying “this is exactly what jesus would do”
placing boys running kites
in the sights of a drone
but these are not sins
for which we must atone
as we get a VA loan
and ignore the fall
leave bygones like Saigon
and ignore the call
as curtains are closing
and darkness sets in
it’s Frankenstein’s monster
and our Cheshire grin
did we try to win
or was it all a ruse
dreamt by men of tin
who get paid win or lose
and although you might choose
to forget the past
it’s there like old land mines
just waiting to blast
it’s the power amassed
many fold all these years
by bush and by cheney’s
ethical peers
and where have the tears
that we cry now long been
for Afghanistan’s women
and children
and men
and for all the war dead
and the bread that’s gone stale
and the red blood that underlies
our fairytale
it’s a check in the mail
it’s pill bottles piled high
it’s the newsmen who still ask
“they hate us, buy why?”
it’s hey, hey, my, my
it’s mcdonalds apple pie
and it’s hamid karzai
an old unocal guy
are the taliban worse
than the warlords they fight
and who are we to judge
when we teach might makes right
my heart breaks for women
from Kandahar to Kabul
but would they fair better
beneath saudi rule
in the kingdom that bombed us
twenty years ago
and kills folks like Khashoggi
for sport and for show
it’s where our dollars go
when we fill up our tank
when we bow and kiss rings
helping fill up their bank
helping them to spread hatred
from west to the east
Wahhabist Jihad
an oil fueled beast
we tell victims families
to go and pound salt
if we knew it would happen
how’s it not our fault?
If the FBI vault
is cracked open one day
just what will all
of the patriots say
flags still on display
hate still in their heart
they’ve killed all the horses
they’ve burned down the cart
we think that we’re smart
but we’re stuck on repeat
we’re stuck on repeat
we’re stuck on repeat
perhaps it’s high time
we control, alt, delete
we hit the reset
so there’s no more Saigon’s
but I hear the drums pounding
with sights on Iran
as hawks eye Eurasia
and Eastasia too
the colors have always been
red, white, and blue
here in Oceania
the land of the fee
of A-Bombs and statues
of Robert E. Lee
where we sip twisted tea
and we pay our war tax
and keep wondering why
there were terror attacks
your alternative facts
never get to the root
but reality’s out there
just take it off mute
then turn up the volume
and open your mind
and don’t be surprised
at the things that you find
like the kingsmen behind
lying us into war
after blow-back that ricocheted
right through our door
when this empire’s color’s
sped from walk to run
on a September Tuesday
two thousand and one
as we all ignored
every last smoking gun
but we’ve made ourselves dizzy now
rounding the sun
2002 and 2003
enduring, enduring, but hardly free
2004, and 2005
jingoism on overdrive
2006 and 2007
blood-lust still from nine-eleven
2008,
2009,
2010,
2011
we created hell when we promised heaven
2012
2013
2014
2015
the war has long remained unseen
2016
2017
2018
2019
nine-eleven babies now wear army green
2020
2021
we wash our hands
we cut and run
we think not of the damage done
as we went round
and round the sun
and round and round
and round some more
twenty long years
of endless war
but forty since the CIA
thought up a new game
to play
in this graveyard
where empires die
where there’s far more
than meets the eye
hey, hey, my, my,
the wind chimes ring
war crimes, not freedom
we did bring
and we’ll bring still
with drones in sky
forever we
will terrorize
soitgoes1984 