booksartyoume

'Patriotism' timothy r gates, 7/02/2009

'America!
Love it, or leave it!'
fifteen, teacher
(WW II Vet,
nothing joking within his persona,
other than as an accountant
warning us regarding
being 'jewed down,'
and to watch out for those japs
'soon they're own everything')
whispered into my ear,
'If I ever see you
dressed like this outside,
I'll kill you.'
(a bit precocious and pretentious,
I was wearing
an American flag for pants,
an American crest eagle emblem for a shirt, and
a state of Ohio flag for a cape
yes, i did think i was cool, then surprise!)
Twenty-five years earlier,
a German boy, protesting
the gassing
of Jews, Christians, Gays and.....
had whispered into his ear,
'It is our duty
to the fatherland.'
National cemeteries, we've
filled to the brim.
more property needed
for more dead boys and girls?
heroes (this i believed, and still do), each one,
imminent domain
makes room
for as many, now, unable to carry their guns.
No place for
collateral damage,
sorry, they were in the way,
inequities of the
business
of
war.
'Better dead than red!'
how many more cries
will the prophet protest,
in Ramah, deafened only by their tears
how many more fallen Patriots
before Patriotism dies?
Memory Eternal.