The Hostage Crisis
Captured.
The woman and child
Held by strangers who don’t even know their language
Are political pawns.
The leader of their guards,
The colonel,
Leaves a ransom note
“If you want your family to be released, turn yourself in”
The guards laugh, salute
When the husband shows up
The colonel boasts to the media
-- We got the criminal from the old regime! --
And they publish it.
Job well done, soldier.
No surprise that it worked.
Who’d want to leave their wife and daughter in Abu Ghraib?
The colonel smiles, gazes fondly at Old Glory
How I love this country
Another day, another hostage crisis.
Seems they might not yet be ready for democracy
If we are very lucky
Then there is no God to judge us.
Copyright 2004 Rich Puchalsky
E-mail: rpuchalsky@worldnet.att.net
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