We are the United States of America
In the shadow of liberty, we stand,
Beating down those whom impart wisdom with a forceful hand —
Before we urge an ally’s fight
To bomb a nation out of sight.
Our children dare to question the creed,
We launch assaults on their audacious breed —
Before we ponder our partner’s intents,
Who counts young lives as mere expenses.
Armed guards march across academic plains,
Silencing the heart that inquires and complains —
Before we halt the armament train
That lets our ally, treat its neighbor, in disdain.
In campuses where peace protests rise,
We carp about them as disorder under academic skies —
Before we stop celebrating disorder in history’s gaze,
When John Lewis dared the bridged phase.
Our outrage boils at placard-bearing youth in camps,
Before anger stirs at the mass-killing in refugee camps—
Missiles, games of war, on laughter encroach,
Erasing the innocent with a deadly approach.
Red lines drawn for our own who dare to ask,
Before we sketch red lines for our ally’s task —
Media, a canvas for narratives we compose,
Before the true tale, we willingly oppose.
Laws swiftly crafted to silence our own critics,
Before we address the worst humanitarian crisis—
Our ally, unscathed by the global critics’ tool,
While they orchestrate a catastrophe, cruel.
Labels reserved for the defiant voice,
Before we reconsider our endless weaponry choice —
Supplying the means for genocidal claims,
Before acknowledging the blood-stained names.
For we are the United States, grand,
Hostage to an ally by guilt’s heavy hand —
Morality benched in the political feat,
In a land where contrasts bitterly meet.
