Friday, February 20, 2015

The Voice of the Coward-II





He stood holding a knife
to the pilots head
mumbling  Allahu Akbah,
as the shining flying tube
raped Tower Two
consummating 1,362 feet
of steel, glass, concrete
and heartbeats
into a marriage of nameless rubble.

And the voice of the coward
cried out from his hiding place
nearly seven thousand miles away.
Called it jihad.
Called it justice.

He set the parcel in an inconspicuous place,
waiting for the full rush of humanity.
Then he pressed the trigger
during rush hour
bringing destruction
to the innocent,
and silently slinked away
wrapping his hope
in the belt of explosives
wrapped around his waist,
mumbling Allahu Akbah
and fear filled his eyes
as the last sound he heard
that interrupted his martyrs prayer
was the betraying ring of a phone sounded
just before his thumb depressed the trigger…

And the voice of the coward
cried out from his hiding place
only seven miles away.
Called it jihad.
Called it justice.

No one saw him place
the bags that killed the train
and assassinated the buses
and the stone faced travelers
riding to work and school and play
like lambs led to the slaughter.
Perhaps he watched
mumbling Allahu Akbah
and something about paradise
when the tubes went dark
and the bus disintegrated
taking the sons and daughters
of mothers and fathers
and the son of Islam
who carried one more device
than the ones of which he’d known.

And the voice of the coward
cried out from his hiding place
nearly seveny miles away.
Called it jihad.
Called it justice.

They took them from a cell
violently, in the middle of the night,
held council
and condemned them to death
for the crime of being Christian
in the wrong place;
at the wrong time;
of the wrong faith;
for believing in a God
of love
they hid their faces
turned on cameras, made a speech
And they slowly sawed their heads off
with dull blades
and cried jihad
Jihad Alllahu Akbah
Twenty-one brave men of God

And the voice of the coward
Made a speech in his hiding place
nearly seven thousand miles away.
He blamed the Roman Crusaders
From a thousand years long past
Climb down from your high horse
The mighty coward said;
Now go and give them jobs.
Then thanked the praying Immam
And played a round of Golf.


By David Roth
© 20th February, 2015


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