In
Memoriam
(on the first anniversary of Sept.
11, 2001)
Until that day when all shall be made new,
When death and grief shall be no more, and God
Shall wipe the tears from our eyes,
we'll bear
This moment's devastation etched in years,
Yet count our blessings and give thanks for those
Who lived, how still the Trinity Church is standing,
How rosebuds, ignorant of terrorism,
Adorn the shrubberies of Battery Park.
But 'till the day when worship shall be true,
We'll kneel before the god of Patriotism
And Unity his deputy, and throned
Above them all, our sainted president,
God's representative and warrior
To vanquish Satan in this earthly realm,
To cheer his infinite, unceasing war
On that word, Terror, and its axis, Evil.
Even the dullard leader understands
A lesson History has much rehearsed:
To forge obedience internally,
Take arms 'gainst an external enemy,
Fulfilling Julius Caesar's maxim that
A leader need not seize his people's rights:
If he but bang the drums of war, and stir
Their patriotic zeal, they'll give them up.
So have we crafted legislation that
No legislator read, giving consent
To prison without trial, to secrecy
And torture, and mortgaged our future for
An almost-War against an almost-Foe,
Just timed to suit elections in November.
Our Constitution is assaulted, and
We're courting the totalitarian way.
Deliver us from Evil, Lord, and lies
Of bungling bureaucrats they lacked the power
To thwart the terrorists that fateful day.
Protect us from Saudi Arabia
That bankrolls Al Qaeda, and provided
No less than 15 of the hijackers.
Our trail of blood follows their trail of money,
Though Dubya dubs them our most constant friend.
That root of evil, love of oil, protects
The Saudis from our gaze, and though our leaders
Were offered several times Bin Laden's head,
They opted for their business deals instead
With the Bin Laden brood of terrorists
And talked in secret with the Taliban,
Deaf to the warnings that came thick and fast
Throughout the Summer of 2001.
France, Russia, Germany, Israel, and Britain
Rang the alarm, and Bush heard of the plan
To use airplanes as missiles in the U.S.
FBI agents also tried to warn
Of imminent attack in Manhattan,
But they were gagged and still are to this day.
In 1995, this very plot
Was known, as 'Operation Bojinka'.
A catalogue of cock-ups, cover-ups,
Corruption, culpability, and lies,
Complacency, conspiracy, collusion,
And a cabal's complicity, though sweeet
Its timely outcome for the G.O.P.
Bush now can strike the glint in Saddam's eye,
A hope to gain weapons of mass destruction,
Based on concocted evidence Iraq is linked.
Now as dissent is unAmerican,
As one man, this September the 11th,
With hands to hearts, we'll chant that vapid hymn
Of praise: 'America the Beautiful'
And hope meanwhile the conjuror of dread,
That confluence of numbers, Nine-Eleven,
Be Terror's only date, lest we should fall
Before elections in 2004.
Sept. 11, 2002
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