Your Empire, Sir


You War on Terror, Sir
          And “arrogant unilateralism.”
Your talk of “regime change”
           and an “evil axis,”
                    of “unruly countries,”
                                     and “friendly governments,”
                        in the age of “netwars,” Sir,
                            in the early years of the Third Millennium, Sir,
                                and the early days of the Imperium,
is, frankly speaking, Sir,
   and at the risk of offending, Sir,
                             seriously offending, Sir,
          appears rife with stupidity, Sir,
                                 downright stupidity, Sir –
you’re simply not the imperial type.

 And the Empire, Sir,
               the Empire is but a blasphemy
                      against everything decent that remains, Sir,
                                                everything,
                                                everything.
                              though not too much of it remains, Sir,
                                             not much at all.


September 2002

Note: Yes, the man in question here is indeed George W. Bush. Almost five years after I wrote this poem, I ended up meeting with him in the Oval Office, and that started a friendship that continues to date.