The Bleeding of a Once Great Nation

Blood everywhere,
On the streets,
Next to playgrounds,
Within the schools,
In shopping malls,
Splattered on walls,
In mosques,
Beside markets,
In homes,
Coursing through,
Hospital corridors,
Glistening red puddles,
A scarlet stream,
Oozing from the arteries,
Of a nation's mangled frame.

Nothing dramatic though,
A simple matter,
Of attrition,
A kind of planned death,
Just a slow,
Bloodletting,
A rather hemophilic bleed.

A scheme you see,
A kind of ruse,
A cute little,
Middle Eastern trick,
Nothing more than,
An eye for an eye,
And a tooth for a tooth.

You know what I mean,
A kind of this for that,
Tit for tat,
Quid pro quo,
Hold a knife to my throat,
And I stick a gun,
In your mouth.

All of such,
An Osama-based,
Bush-duping ploy,
An entrapment,
Catch the goofy guy,
GWB,
Off guard,
Lure'um in,
Then,
Set the hook.

Give'um a deal,
They can't refuse,
Punch um in the face,
Just once"" nine-eleven will do,
That's all it'll take,
And with their pride,
On the line,
They'll be sure,
To become enraged,
You can count on it.

Look,
Give the poor bastards,
A break,
Give them exactly,
What they want,
Something for which,
They've been begging,
A national emergency,
A reason to get upset,
A pretext,
A horrified populace,
Crying out for,
A reason to fight back,
Someone to kill,
You know what I mean,
The missing link,
The necessary ingredient,
For an empire,
To grow,
The need for,
Another damn war!

Iraq,
A call to arms,
A massive military buildup,
Congressional appropriations,
Overdrafts,
Unpaid bills,
Failed budgets,
Funds raided,
Expropriations,
Deficit spending,
Debt,
Devaluation,
Default,
Dow meltdown,
Homes foreclosed,
Financial panic,
Recession having,
Become a depression,
A gelded republic,
Floundering in a rising tide,
Of red ink,
A blood-stained purge,
A Crimson rush,
A Eucharist-turned,
Karmic cleansing of,
The coffers,
Of an empire,
Having lost,
Its way,
The bleeding,
Of a once,
Great nation!

Doug Soderstrom is a retired Professor of Psychology having taught for forty-two years at the college level. He was a columnist for the Populist Party of America (www.populistamerica.com/now discontinued) and has been a feature writer for (more...)

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