E-villanelle

The proclamation has been made. The time has come.
Terror at our doorstep leaves our world in peril.
Beat your ploughshares into swords. Beat the battle drum.

Media moghuls, politicos invoke corporate resolve to rally behind freedom.
Prodigious capital is spent spinning nameless millions as the gathering forces of evil.
The proclamation has been made. The time has come.

Enemies of the Dream threaten our Way of Life, hearth and home.
Defend the destiny God has made manifest to consume and despoil.
Beat your ploughshares into swords, and beat the battle drum.

Shackle democracy here to free patriotic citizens alone.
Collective fear will fuel the war to liberate captive oil.
The proclamation has been made. The time has come.

Any means or sacrifice, on others' soil, is justified, if loathsome.
For good people besieged by fear, complex questions become simple.
Beat your ploughshares into swords, and beat, beat the battle drum.

Asymmetrical warfare, bunker busters, smart bombs, urban firestorm,
Dispossession of the dispossessed stir converts of any righteous cause with our example,
To beat their ploughshares into swords, and to beat, beat, beat the battle drums.

(C)2003, Deborah Ujie