Albright Monument, Baghdad

Wadia's best friend's youngest sister was denied a proper burial For two days they couldn't douse the flames the allied planes had showered on her tiny body And all the paper trails that lead to all the roads that lead to all these Basras Seems we're all just collateral damage waiting to be happening In some unforeseen fucking Pentagon budget-drill Today's Ba'ath regime is just the red scare of yesteryear And I drink myself to sleep because I'm losing faith That we can amount to anything more than reluctant human subsidies The moving parts in a death-machine Protesting their complicity Waiting for somebody else to throw their body on the churning gears I drink myself to sleep because I'm losing faith that we We here in the cradle of Affluence can cease Our sickening drive for individual strength through State-powers' swinging fists That we'll ever look back and laugh At the irony that is Atomic murderers enshrined in Independence, USA While 8000 miles from here In the cradle of democracy It's another banner year For a cottage industry A ritual at the corner of George and Constantine As foundries scramble to recast This decapitated monument