A Pox o' Lips

(on U.S. Senate passage of The Military Commissions and Detainee Treatment Bill)

Daniel, in dire and dismal prophecy,
This day of desolation did foresee,
When to the Temple of Democracy,
They'd bring Abomination's blasphemy:

The absolutism of monarchy,
Illegal acts dressed in legality,
The love-of-money's sick idolatry,
The desecration of humanity.

Now is oppression labelled Liberty,
And war is Peace; torture Security;
The devil worshipped as the Almighty.
O topsy-turvy world of butchery!

Hear, in the Senate, Horror's litany
Of lying tongues' immortal infamy
Assenting by two-thirds' majority
To Pandemonium's fiendish policy.

So, lately loosed from earthly Purgatory,
The spirit of the tortured detainee
Swirls through the benches of nobility
Crying "Murder!" "Treason!" "Rape!" "Theft!" "Tyranny!"

Sept. 29, 2006