Collateral Damage

Daily, we are buried in news of world affairs
Sadly, our senses have been dulled and no one cares
Granted, some have learned the truth by tracing the roots
Truly, the world powers operate in cahoots
Madly, fake wars and disease are fabricated
Slyly, calamitous edicts are dictated
Blindly, we concede to the lusts of the insane
Gravely, millions of innocents are maimed or slain

Naively, we are sheepeople led away to slaughter
Mournfully, every father, mother, son and daughter
Stupidly, deceived by one appearing as an angel of light
Distracted, we are led away into the dark of night
Deluded, rendered by social media as society fools
Misguided, we’re conditioned early on in elementary schools
Paralyzed, we cannot function or make a simple decision
Victimized, we’re entranced by some lunatic’s evil vision

Dutifully, we submit to the raging war machine
Methodically, scruples are flushed down the latrine
Confusedly, we pledge our allegiance to psychos
Decidedly, victims’ voices are drowned in echoes
Deceptively, target nations are duly villainized
Unwittingly, social conscience is desensitized
Criminally, wayward bombs erase innocent lives
Maniacally, military figureheads trade high fives

Boom! Each missile wreaks havoc as it explodes
Harsh! Our sentence as democracy erodes
Gone! Basic principles have been surrendered
Lost! Miss Liberty in all her glorious splendor
Dazed! The public has grown jaded and numb
Dead! The future of man if we succumb
Purge! End corruption from the evil ones
Peace! Love must replace our bullets and guns

Raji (Roger) Abuzalaf is a Christian Palestinian (Haifa) refugee raised in Houston, now a long-term Honolulu resident and a U.S. citizen. He is a guitarist, singer, composer, and poet. Raji participates in local progressive/activist causes, at present co-producing pro-Palestine filmfare for Oahu’s main cable provider’s public-access TV network. His latest book is An Unlikely Victory. Read other articles by Raji.