upstream from white sand beaches are hamlets, paddies and canyons bombshells unexploded, cratered land, cratered faces
mangled extremities, defective births...
the villages have memories nightmares and visions
the countryside still echoes...
we returned to the comfort of our politics and rhetoric
leaving a legacy of disfigurement...
scarring persons and landscape
poisoned food chain
poisoned minds
blackened hearts...
a righteous nation
hands over hearts reciting the pledge still preaching to the world
hands over ears and eyes still speaking the lies
making the guilt safe and tucked away in hospitals and dead-end jobs
in parades and sunday services
in vfw and legion halls
in broken homes
in shattered illusions
in battered women's shelters
in cemeteries...
rather than learning from our mistakes we adopt a new battle cry...
"next time we'll only fight if they'll let us win"...
as if that excuses our interventions
mangled extremities, defective births...
the villages have memories nightmares and visions
the countryside still echoes...
we returned to the comfort of our politics and rhetoric
leaving a legacy of disfigurement...
scarring persons and landscape
poisoned food chain
poisoned minds
blackened hearts...
a righteous nation
hands over hearts reciting the pledge still preaching to the world
hands over ears and eyes still speaking the lies
making the guilt safe and tucked away in hospitals and dead-end jobs
in parades and sunday services
in vfw and legion halls
in broken homes
in shattered illusions
in battered women's shelters
in cemeteries...
rather than learning from our mistakes we adopt a new battle cry...
"next time we'll only fight if they'll let us win"...
as if that excuses our interventions