Lament Over Weapons of Mass Destruction
We sat down and wept, and wept
By the waters of the river
We sat down and wept, hands held to burning eyes
Gasping, coughing, retching
From the billowing gases
Overcome by the stink of our own messes
We cried blame but shunned mirrors
We gasped for air but everywhere bestrode SUVs
Better an air filter and asthma
Than denying want or whim
Tumbling, gurgling, pearling, skipping
The waters had once coursed along the riverbed
Laughing, singing, shouting out life-giving force
“Let justice well up like a mighty stream” we said
Soon we sat by waters
Sludged, degraded, beslicked
Noxed, toxed, poxed
Slime floated and bloated, gases rising
We sat down and retched, and retched
When the sun rose over the riverbank
And the careless tossed a cigarette from a speedingTestoserosa
The mighty stream blazed up seven feet of flames
And burned for three days
How then to extinguish the flames of a burning river?
Throw water on water, clean water on dirty
More chemicals to match the already present one million parts per million
Salt to turn filth to salty filth?
And everywhere we turned and cried out
Who did this to us?
We raced from shops with varnished nails
Gleaming rainbow designs
Under helmets of hair frosted with polymers and butadiene
And from gated golf clubs
We talked about our expensive toys
Already the cell phone calendar chirped our next appointment
As we sped by in our SUVs and Hummers
The hungry stared from abandoned doorways
Their children gasping for air
From the Tigris to the Cuyahoga
From one end of the earth to the other
We spewed filth and destruction
We sat down and wept, and wept
But rose not to govern the violence within us
We knew not peace, made not peace, did not peace
Lost in the bilious sooty clouds of our making
Wandering in circles looking for exits that lay within us
Striking out at shibboleths, hollow images
Gasping for air
We chased demons and shadows
Of our own making
We called them pre-emption and making the world safe for democracy
Storming up the mountain, our young bound with Kevlar
We raised the flinty knife over their untainted hearts
But no angel stayed our hoary, scarred hand
With patriotic airs and equal opportunity foaming out our lips
We sacrificed not only Isaac but also Rebecca
Then fell to our knees crying
Who did this to us?
We are the Weapons of Mass Destruction
This day make peace
And begin now.
We sat down and wept, and wept
By the waters of the river
We sat down and wept, hands held to burning eyes
Gasping, coughing, retching
From the billowing gases
Overcome by the stink of our own messes
We cried blame but shunned mirrors
We gasped for air but everywhere bestrode SUVs
Better an air filter and asthma
Than denying want or whim
Tumbling, gurgling, pearling, skipping
The waters had once coursed along the riverbed
Laughing, singing, shouting out life-giving force
“Let justice well up like a mighty stream” we said
Soon we sat by waters
Sludged, degraded, beslicked
Noxed, toxed, poxed
Slime floated and bloated, gases rising
We sat down and retched, and retched
When the sun rose over the riverbank
And the careless tossed a cigarette from a speedingTestoserosa
The mighty stream blazed up seven feet of flames
And burned for three days
How then to extinguish the flames of a burning river?
Throw water on water, clean water on dirty
More chemicals to match the already present one million parts per million
Salt to turn filth to salty filth?
And everywhere we turned and cried out
Who did this to us?
We raced from shops with varnished nails
Gleaming rainbow designs
Under helmets of hair frosted with polymers and butadiene
And from gated golf clubs
We talked about our expensive toys
Already the cell phone calendar chirped our next appointment
As we sped by in our SUVs and Hummers
The hungry stared from abandoned doorways
Their children gasping for air
From the Tigris to the Cuyahoga
From one end of the earth to the other
We spewed filth and destruction
We sat down and wept, and wept
But rose not to govern the violence within us
We knew not peace, made not peace, did not peace
Lost in the bilious sooty clouds of our making
Wandering in circles looking for exits that lay within us
Striking out at shibboleths, hollow images
Gasping for air
We chased demons and shadows
Of our own making
We called them pre-emption and making the world safe for democracy
Storming up the mountain, our young bound with Kevlar
We raised the flinty knife over their untainted hearts
But no angel stayed our hoary, scarred hand
With patriotic airs and equal opportunity foaming out our lips
We sacrificed not only Isaac but also Rebecca
Then fell to our knees crying
Who did this to us?
We are the Weapons of Mass Destruction
This day make peace
And begin now.