"better than them ... they explain" Bob Dylan

Modern Warfare


Dressed in sacramental hero attire
Young celebrants, shaved of personal identity,
Go on death quests launched with parade and fanfare

Technological human sacrificial lambs
Chosen statistically by a failed system
To honor our carbon fire gods—

The unselected majority
Reenact the gruesome ritual in the style of a republic
Disembodied talking heads replay the scene

Nightly on the public airways
The scenes of sound and fury pass in review
Polls assess the emotional reactions of the masses,

Sustain the faith of fear bound witnesses.
The religious blood rite of bullets and bombs
Remind us all of our mortality.

To pacify the angry fire gods, we offer
The auto exhaust of our daily commute,
An incense to spread our common guilt economically.

The burning eyes of those too old to fight
Shout the refrain, “Honor, Service, Country,”
Then return to collect cash rewards they proudly earned.

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